Kerala - Kozhikode   

Change in mindset sought to tackle traffic woes

Kozhikode: A change in mindset is indispensable to tackle the aggravating traffic problems in the city, observed a debate on the ‘challenges and solutions for the city’s traffic problems’ organised by the Press Club here on Tuesday.

Collector A. Jayathilak, who participated in the programme, said that widening of roads cannot be considered the only way out to deal with the growing bottlenecks on the city roads. “We need to think differently and dynamically,” he said.

As a suggestion, Mr. Jayathilak said that something has to be done to “reduce the demand” for private vehicles on the road.

“The proposed air-conditioned bus service in the city could be a significant step towards making the public rely on the public transport system and make them leave private vehicles at home,” he said.

National Transportation Planning and Research Centre (NATPAC) coordinator Vijayakumar said that a more effective traffic signal system could bring in considerable change to the present traffic situation, which is in clutter.

“Multi-storey parking facilities also need to be introduced, besides facilitating off-street parking arrangements,” said Mr.Vijayakumar.

He suggested that time had come to think about traffic means like bus rapid transit systems and suburban trains in the city.

“We should start thinking about making use of the air-space as well to tackle our traffic problems,” he added.

Malabar Chamber of Commerce president P.V. Gangadharan said that the lack of long-term planning in town development had left the traffic system in a mess.

“The indefinite delay in building railway flyovers even in the city limits had also added to the woes,” he said.

Representing the public, Imbichi Koya from Panniyankara said that the authorities should give due importance to traffic issues on the outskirts.

“The cry for a railway flyover at Panniyankara, where traffic blocks occur due to closure of the railway gate around 50 times daily on an average from 15 to 25 minutes, still remains unattended,” he said.

Mayor M. Bhaskaran said that people were using their clout to manage “stay vacations” to continue even illegal constructions in the corporation limits, which contributes to the traffic problems.

Retired Superintend of Police Subash Babu said that effective deployment of trained traffic officers could solve traffic jams in the city. “Awareness among pedestrians also is essential,” he said.

N.K. Ravindran of Asianet was the moderator of the discussion.

City Traffic Assistant Commissioner Rajendran, CI Sreejith, PWD executive engineer P.M. Paulson, among others, spoke.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

A poem of love in Arabic-Malayalam
One-day film fete
Special school bags award
Change in mindset sought to tackle traffic woes
Demand for flight services
Political violence spreads to Koyilandy taluk

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu