Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Traffic or Terrific?
So, I drive around 46 KM a day to reach my office in Ambattur from My home to and fro. All the way through it I see people violating traffic rules (Even me). Why does these things happen? What makes us to violate these rules which are infact framed for our safety??????
Before going deep into the trouble lets see what are all the possible violations we come across by vehicl wise...
1. Two Wheeler:
With Made easier two wheeler loans, there are much more two wheelers in chennai than there should have been. One bank goes ahead and includes two wheeler as its part of Education loan.
The most frequent violation by two wheelers is they drive the vehicle the way they want, they go on to make their own path. Is there nO U turn, no need to worry.....
Is there no right, hey no its not for me.............. Why should I worry at all?
And from where these problems arise? Its because that chennai has very narrow roads and th traffic department is experimenting too much with these roads. One day you go by a road and the very next day you come to know that it is an one way. Also you can still go ahead with the route by bribing the policeman if you are rich or else escaping his eyes if you are smart. You can choose either option.
And then there is this problem of rash driving also. The fault can be equally divided by the governement and by the riders of the vehicle. The government has restricted the speed limit to 40KMPH which is absolutely impossible if you are riding a 125cc+ vehicle. Sometimes you see a sub 125cc passing you at the speed of light as well. With the road conditions though you need much skill than Dr.46 to go at the speeds of 70+ many still manage to do so. If 40 is the desired speed Govt can ban 150 cc vehicle. But I don't understand the concept behind this....
Apart from this our people over crowd the vehicle as well. You can see what made Ratan Tata go for a Nano. They don't realize how bizzare and how harmful this can be? No helmets no limitations.
These kond of carelessness leads to fatal accidents, sometimes to irreversible loss.
2. Autorickshaws:
Autorickshaws form the perfect pair for nemesis with two wheelers. They are the all in all azhaguraja's of chennai. Most of them are barely 8th passed guys who are often drunkard and most of the time have pan in their mouth. They turn left, turn right, take U with out any indicator and yes they are permitted to do so you cannot question them. And then if they are looking for a possible sawari you cannot go past them as they creep along the road. In case they have one, still they will hardly give you way (You have to literally earn your way). The worst case scenario is when they rest, they don't bother about the parking rules. Park their vehicle swherever they want and simply sleep inside it.
Time and again things are upgraded, so why not automen? The latest addition is Shareauto, while the original share auto looks like a Omni (Somewhat). These so called share autos are diesel run ape autos. And people are stuffed like cattles in it. Wonder how? have a look.......
Had enough of it? Actually one trip, which is usually any hwere between 6-10 Kms will fetch them 150 RS as they take 4 passengers on the seat, 4 on the make shift seat in second row and two on their either sides. Now this is a precarious position to drive a vehicle. hands cannot be moved freely. Rear view mirror will be rendered useless (if one exists) and rarely you can concentrate on traffic. With this kind of journeys they have made numerous accidents only for the police to take some money from them. Also there is one irony about that. Every morning share autos are fined a minimum amount of Rs100 towards violating rules and they are allowed to do any non sense through out the day with the same penalty slip. It can be translated as follows, kill one take anticipatory bail go and kill as much as you want. Come on chennai city traffic police atleast stop these people.
3. BUSES:
Undisputed heroes of Chennai roads. They will never allow you to stop on white line when the signal is red. When you have around 10 seconds they will start giving noice by horn and will compulsively make you move. There is rule that any Bus should not carry more that 75 passengers. But what happens here is it carries atleast twice such passengers. And account for more accidents as well. what does the bus driver get in return for accidents a memo and a suspension at the maximum. So Human life as become a play tool for them and are the happiest of the lot. These people again do seldom care about traffic rules and asks whether one such exists?
Lorries:
The Jamesbond of Indian roads, licensed to kill. Off late with so much restrictions these people are spending more on bribe. Yes they are not alllowed into city traffic in day times. But you can bypass it Pay bribe and you are happily allowed to go ahead.
After all these experience i remember one joke. A foreigner asks to an Indian "If you are following your own rules by violationg all laws, why the hell you have laws?" Indian replies "If we don't have laws what will we violate?
See you in next post friends. Bye..........
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