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Old 6th July 2012, 18:51   #1171
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re: Traffic and life on the roads in Chennai

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Originally Posted by ThePunter View Post
As I see, this route will be 2.5 km extra for me. With respect to traffic, I think from the time around you are around MKN road, till Kathipara it could be slow due to Metro construction and all. Thereafter again traffic will be high passing through some real congested narrow lanes once you cross Alandur fly over & Subway (the stretch could be longer). Infact I got to know about and experience Alandur fly over only a few days back and when this route came up it didn't came as a surprise. Thanks for the suggesion folks. I go till near the Residency Hotel/ GN Chetty Road Jn, and so this way I will be joining near Saidapet Bus stand (or aranganathan subway as it is told) and taking Thanickachalam Rd.
I also prefer this route when going to mount road. I take a left towards jayaraman street, after crossing alandur bridge over adyar, take the govindan road, cut right to CIT nagar, turn right at south usman road and join Mount road again. Though congested, this route at least helps one to reduce clutch usage.
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Old 6th July 2012, 19:10   #1172
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re: Traffic and life on the roads in Chennai

The best corner for me is the road that goes around the flyover from under Gemini flyover to Anna Salai towards Teynampet.

Thats where the Italians & Europeans (or europe born americans too) rule
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Old 6th July 2012, 19:42   #1173
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Oh yeah..just pray that a bus does not fall on us while cornering..
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Old 9th July 2012, 10:25   #1174
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re: Traffic and life on the roads in Chennai

Watch out for the cops on ECR (between Akkarai and Injambakkam, as you come from the south) who are now stopping vehicles with sun-control film. I was stumped when the cop waved me over...I mean, I had seen them from afar, and suitably "adjusted" my speed, thinking they were doing a speed-check. So, naturally, I was confused why he was waving me over. I checked my rear-view mirror to see if it was some other vehicle that he was signalling to, but no luck. Slowly pulled over and got down. 'Sun control film remove pannalaya saar ?'. Uh-oh. Ok, I got it now. Paid the Rs. 100/- fine, got the receipt and drove off.


Looks like this ruling is here to stay, and better to get the sun-control film off now.

Last edited by Blue Thunder : 9th July 2012 at 10:27.
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Old 9th July 2012, 12:12   #1175
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Congratulations Senthil..

Btw, removing sunfilm is easy diy..I'm sure there is a thread for that.
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Old 9th July 2012, 13:14   #1176
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re: Traffic and life on the roads in Chennai

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Originally Posted by anachronix
The best corner for me is the road that goes around the flyover from under Gemini flyover to Anna Salai towards Teynampet.
A good S-curve that one, but watch out for autos/bikes coming the wrong way from 2 roads - the low-height road under the flyover and from Mount road. These can surprise you real bad. And ofcourse watch out for any falling buses, like headers mentioned.
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Old 9th July 2012, 13:19   #1177
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re: Traffic and life on the roads in Chennai

I dont know whether its me, or whoever who shifted from NCR to Chennai can comment, I find people in Chennai roads are more arrogant and never follow rules. Yesterday being sunday i went for a ride to Marina beach, right from Arcot road till the Marina beach road i find hell lotsa violaters everywhere..

You cant move fast in right lane either an Auto or a two wheeler will block you in front and moves leisurly at 20 km/h speed and it will be nightmare to move in left lane cos only god knows when the vehicle in front stops all of a sudden.

Bus drivers stops the buses right on the middle of road blocking both left and right lane.
And they cut from left most lane and go towards right in Junctions. (This case is applicable in NCR too)

You can expect vehicles to go either ahead/towards you, but here in chennai they cross over you very unexpectedly.

I find the following things are the reasons for chennai's ill-fated on road experience.
#1. LOTSA two wheelers!!!. And, unlike NCR were two wheeler keep left lane, here they will be all around. left/right/head on/crosses. You need to have 5 pair of eyes to cope up with them.

#2. No proper market area, shops will be there all over the road and people will stop their vehicles right in front of the shops. Blocks (permanently) part of the left lane. Were as in NCR, there will be dedicated zones for market and only there we have to be bit cautious.

#3. Narrow roads, most of the main areas roads are very narrow (Rest of the wider roads are now blocked by Metro constructions

#4. Lane discipline is something which is a nightmare here, Even if you wishes to do so, you CAN'T!!!..

#5. No one stops their vehicles before stop-line in signals, They will stop 2 feet ahead of it.. And when there is a signal with count down timer, people will start honking when the count down timer reaches single digit and they move on when it is at 5.
They dont stop even when the signals turns from Green to Red, until the traffic from Green zone abruptly stops them. Best example, Lakshman Sruthi signal at 100 feet road.

#6. One can see even very narrow roads having divider here, its because of the attitude of people where they drive like ONE WAY if there is no divider.

#7. Signals are placed very low (in height) and in some places you have to play hide and seek to find the signal. (esp in t.Nagar) Once when i crossed a junction, a traffic cop stopped me saying that i jumped a signal, i was looking around in search of signal and the cop laugh out to the core and pointed me the signal which was kept behind the tree and lits up the leaves in the tree.

#8. X junctions. Yes i mean it vehicles have to pass diagnally at those intersections . Your car's side will be decorated with bunch of lines if you were new to this type of junctions. (one of the ex: Kaasi theatre junction, atleast the road is wide here).

I have spent 3 years in NCR (Noida) and relocated to chennai after that, My roots are from Tamilnadu so i'am not anything against the region here. Im just penning down my on road experience between these places.

I do accepts NCR had its advantage of having planned architecture and Wider roads. but still here in the famous OMR i can see people jumping the divider while on crossing the road. Two wheeler zip past the opposite directions, and almost all the violations which i mentioned above are taking place here.

I think people's attitude is matter here.

Last edited by bblost : 9th July 2012 at 13:52. Reason: Please refer forum rules. No more than 2 smileys per post. Thanks.
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Old 9th July 2012, 13:47   #1178
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I think lack of road safety and awareness by the road users in Chennai is what makes driving in Chennai difficult for people from other parts.

That said, certain parts of the city are in a mess because of the train/sewage/metro/electricity and miscellaneous works kept pending due to lack of clearance in the projects.

Also, most projects do not have any penalty clause which makes it difficult for the contractor to abide and complete the entire project.
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Old 9th July 2012, 14:39   #1179
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re: Traffic and life on the roads in Chennai

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Originally Posted by DRIVE_ADDICT View Post
I do accepts NCR had its advantage of having planned architecture and Wider roads. but still here in the famous OMR i can see people jumping the divider while on crossing the road.
At least we of Chennai don't pull out our guns and start shooting when asked to stop/pay toll etc.
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Old 9th July 2012, 15:00   #1180
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re: Traffic and life on the roads in Chennai

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At least we of Chennai don't pull out our guns and start shooting when asked to stop/pay toll etc.
Absolutely, I will have to agree with you. People in Chennai are much softer and polite compared to else-where. And of course, we don’t carry guns to shoot at someone when asked to pay the toll charges.
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Old 9th July 2012, 15:09   #1181
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re: Traffic and life on the roads in Chennai

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Originally Posted by binand View Post
At least we of Chennai don't pull out our guns and start shooting when asked to stop/pay toll etc.
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Originally Posted by MutantX View Post
Absolutely, I will have to agree with you. People in Chennai are much softer and polite compared to else-where. And of course, we don’t carry guns to shoot at someone when asked to pay the toll charges.
Even I thought that comparison was needless, at least it could have been said with a positive note on NCR instead of rubbishing the other city.

Guys, I would advice we stop this here itself. This will take a very bad turn soon. Each city/state has it's own advantages and disadvantages. People are not constrained to live in one particular state unless they have a flourishing business or a non transferable permanent job. There is an eclectic mix of people especially in the Metros because of which traffic and crime have increased over the last 10-15 years. This is true of any city in India.
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Old 9th July 2012, 15:46   #1182
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we don’t carry guns to shoot at someone when asked to pay the toll charges.
Agree!!. But will NOT agree that people are soft and polite. You can hear lewd comments referring to fellow driver family's near and dear one at every signals. Atleast come and live this part of chennai (Arcot road-Vadapalani). Try Porur to Nungambakam in morning peak hour traffic you will understand the soft/polite nature of our people.

Once i was caught in a block just after 2 days of my car's registration. There was a share auto behind me with just an inch gap and i was behind a bus with sufficient gap. There is one small road (only two wheelers ply through it) on the left side and there are bunch of two wheelers comes from that road squeeze in the gap between my car and bus to join the already blocked right lane traffic. I kept my fingures crossed that no one should leave their signature on my front bumber, Suddenly i heared a bang on my rear.. There was this cyclist, who tried to carry his cycle and want to squeeze himself between the Share auto and me.. he left his cycle marks on my rear hatch door. When i got down, he started shouting on me saying i blocked this side of the door and thats why he did this. I gave him back earfull but that guy is simply arrogant and couple of bikers do support him. Thank god a cop came in and gave some "lathi" bang on those two wheelers who squeezed in and gave some verbal treatment all went back and the road got cleared by that time. Cyclist was out of trace.

The lack of road infrastructure make the people behaves badly!.

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Originally Posted by esteem_lover View Post
Even I thought that comparison was needless, at least it could have been said with a positive note on NCR instead of rubbishing the other city.

Guys, I would advice we stop this here itself. This will take a very bad turn soon. Each city/state has it's own advantages and disadvantages. People are not constrained to live in one particular state unless they have a flourishing business or a non transferable permanent job. There is an eclectic mix of people especially in the Metros because of which traffic and crime have increased over the last 10-15 years. This is true of any city in India.
Oh my!!!.. I just wrote down my experience and I'AM from Tamilnadu. Did my schooling, graduation here. I just write down my desire to have roads and road manners which i wished to have in our city. Thats it.
As you point it out correctly each city/state has its own adv/disadv.

Ok as i started let me stop. I'am sorry if i offend anything from my posts.

Last edited by bblost : 9th July 2012 at 16:13. Reason: back 2 back
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Old 9th July 2012, 15:51   #1183
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re: Traffic and life on the roads in Chennai

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Even I thought that comparison was needless, at least it could have been said with a positive note on NCR instead of rubbishing the other city.
.
I would also say that familiarity also plays a large part. Once we are familiar we tend to be more forgiving. Whenever I land in a new city, I find it difficult to understand the local style of driving. When I was in Gurgaon way back in 2006, I was shocked, when I land in Hyd and was fuming on how people drive all over the place, inspite of broad roads and finally when I am back in Chennai, found it was as bad as any other place I was complaining. This inspite of the fact that I was born and brought up here, and have seen the city evolve from a laid back city. After a couple of months, I found I could drive with the flow in each of the cities, including Bangalore and Kerala.

Today, when I need to commute from Anna Nagar to Navalur, I try to hit the road before 8:30 am, then drive through the city, else I take the Bypass and turn into vandalur and then join the OMR near Chettinad Hospital and approach Navlur from the other side.
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Old 9th July 2012, 16:19   #1184
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re: Traffic and life on the roads in Chennai

@Drive_Addict, the points you made in your initial post are valid. Having been here for many years, we tend to "adjust" to the conditions here and thus do not see an issue, while a person new to the city would see these.

But things were not like this earlier. I still cherish memories of riding/driving through Chennai roads in the 90s. Then people actually stopped at the Stop-line (there was a 50Rs fine for not doing so, but I doubt that was the reason - people followed the rule). Roads were not encroached upon by markets like you mentioned - eg. there was a mini-bus (15M IIRC) which used to go from Saligramam/Vadapalani to Aminjikarai through Periyar-Pathai / Anna Nedumpathai areas of Choolaimedu, but today it is a nightmare navigating even a bike/car on these Choolaimedu roads, due to the whole road becoming a market.

Another reason for Chennai's mess is its distinction of being the city with the highest 2-wheeler population in India. And ofcourse the various government departments (EB, Metro Water etc) do their bit to make roads as unusable as possible. Plus the ever-increasing population that stresses the roads that are not growing at that pace. Let's hope things change.
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Old 9th July 2012, 16:41   #1185
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re: Traffic and life on the roads in Chennai

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But things were not like this earlier. I still cherish memories of riding/driving through Chennai roads in the 90s. Then people actually stopped at the Stop-line (there was a 50Rs fine for not doing so, but I doubt that was the reason - people followed the rule). Roads were not encroached upon by markets like you mentioned - eg. there was a mini-bus (15M IIRC) which used to go from Saligramam/Vadapalani to Aminjikarai ...

Another reason for Chennai's mess is its distinction of being the city with the highest 2-wheeler population in India. And ofcourse the various government departments (EB, Metro Water etc) do their bit to make roads as unusable as possible. . Let's hope things change.
Very much agree on the stop line part. Even if the tyre was on the stop line they used to collect this from the 2 wheeler guys. Those days, the 4 wheeler crowd was comparatively less. I used to be proud that motorist actually followed the rules, when I saw all the commotion in other cities.

All that changed when I came back to Chennai recently. Apart from the number of vehicles, I think the road works and design are quite out of date. Most of the arterial roads have the same size as that of the 80s while the number of vehicles have exponentially grown.

Also not sure why would someone would design the OMR to be a toll road and not design the intersections in a better manner. The 35 paid for it is a sheer waste. If we take the chennai Bypass, the road surface in many places have lumps/patterns created from molten tar. This makes driving at higher speeds really scary.

Last edited by raghu.t.k : 9th July 2012 at 16:43.
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