Chennai-Traffic Easy seminar

Today I attended a seminar titled Traffic Easy organised by the madras chapters of Soroptimist International. Though I had to move out before the finish I sat through lectures by Dr. Prithika Chary, Senior Consultant Neurologist, Ms. Shobha Iyer, Citizen Consumer and Civic Action Group and Dr.Murthy V.A. Bondada of IIT, Chennai. It was an informative and eye-opening session to say the least.

Dr. Prithika Chary talked about the health hazards of traffic congestion and how it is projected to be the no.2 killer in the year 2020 and stressed on walking for a short distance instead of what we do now!

Ms. Shobha Iyer talked of the neglected lot on road, ie., pedestrians and cyclists and hoped for consultation with people of the locality by the authorities before implementing any solution.

But in my opinion Dr. Murthy's lecture had pragmatic solutions and the way to implement them. Here now are some of the points from his lecture.

1. We don't use the same mantras for all functions. We have a different one for marriage, child birth, pooja, etc. The same way for a short distance we can walk, for one or two people to go with little luggage we can use bike or auto and for long distance family trip we can use cars.

2. While long term solutions are implemented the short term solutions also should be taken care of.

3. In Chennai context he gave the following statistics.

28% of the people walk

13% of the people use cycle

29% of the people use bus

18% of the people use bikes/scooters

4% of the people use cars

3% of the people use autos

rest use lorries, trucks, etc.

Those who walk and use cycle are not considered as road space hogger s and also don't contribute to pollution.

Though 29% use buses it is <1% when trips by buses are considered.

18% of the bikes/scooters occupy 75% of the road trips.

4% of the cars occupy 18% of the road trips.

Autos used by 3% of the people make 2% of the road trips.

But most of the road related schemes seem to be having 22% of the vehicle population, ie., bikes/scooters and cars neglecting totally the interests of pedestrians and cyclists.

If only the pedestrians are given proper side walks and cyclists a separate lane most of the congestion and accident related deaths will come down. Actually 40% of the accidents are due to traffic congestion and only 25% due to rule violations, as informed by Dr. Prithika Chary earlier.

I didn't take notes. Otherwise I could have given a much detailed report.

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Chennai traffic update

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Awareness Test

If you are a man or a woman take this test!

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Traffic rules explained

In my search for pages giving importance to our traffic I found a link which deals in detail the reasons for the existing rules. The following is a little appetizer for those who are in search of the same.

Rule: You must drive on the left of the road. “Keep Left” first started in Rome, but the first law on it was made in 1756 in England. In 75 countries, you have to drive on the left, in 167 countries, on the right.

Traffic Logic: To avoid collisions, people driving in opposite directions should be on opposite sides of the road.

Rule: Pedestrians must walk on the left of the pavement, whether there is only one pavement, or pavement on both sides of the road. If there is no pavement, they must walk on the right side of the road.

Traffic Logic: Pedestrians can turn or stop faster than a vehicle. They must walk facing oncoming traffic so that they can see when it is necessary to give way to the vehicle by stepping to the side. If there is only one pavement, pedestrians closer to the road must face the traffic, for the same reason. If there is a pavement on both sides, pedestrians walk in the same direction as traffic.

Rule: Overtake only from the right, unless the vehicle in front has signalled an intention to turn right.

Traffic Logic: We drive on the left, and the driver sits on the right. Slow traffic is in the left lane, and fast traffic in the right lane. To overtake, we have to change lanes. Moving to the right, we can see what is in front by moving a little into the other lane. Moving left, we can only see it when most of the vehicle is in the left lane--CRASH. The obstruction caused to other traffic and chances of collision are much less when moving right. Also, there is less speed difference with the slow vehicles on the left.

Overtaking a vehicle that is turning right, from its right, will put the overtaking vehicle in the path of the turning vehicle--CRASH.

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Helmet ad

Got it in an e-mail. Click on it to view full size.

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Chennai Traffic-Right of Way!

Suddenly there was a screeching sound and rubber smell. But no accident. The 150cc biker just averted an accident. An old man on cycle was saved! But on close scrutiny I could see the cause and effect of our peoples' attitude toward 'right turners' and 'road crossers'!I just don't know why the people behave this way. You try to cross a road. You look right, left and again right as required. You spot a vehicle which is at least 100 meters away. You think it is safe.

But think again! That vehicle will suddenly pick up speed and cut across your path. You have to jump back. If he had continued with the same speed and path you would have crossed with no trouble and he would have gone his way going behind you. But no. He/She will not let you. Whether you are crossing from the right or left side of the road, 'the vehicle should cross only in front of you and before you cross' seems to be their rule! The rub on the wound is they will be back to their normal speed once they cross you.

For a moment imagine that you are in your vehicle. A person is crossing the road from your left 'no need to brake' distance away. Instead of moving to your right as people do normally you can move to your left which will make your path as well as his clear. No need to reduce speed, for both of you. Same tactic for a person crossing from your right. This time you move to your right, that's all. Mind you. I am talking about situation where you have space to move. Not when you are one of the 100 vehicles trying to be the first one at the next signal!

Oh! I forgot. It is nearly the same thing when you try to turn in to a street on your right. The old man was trying to turn and the biker wanted to overtake before the old man could do so! Even after that the old man was not allowed to turn. The biker just whizzed past before the cycler could recover. Even after that the old man could not finish turning and had to back up towards the left side of the road as cars, bikes and a bus started piling up. That is the salt added while rubbing!

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