Madurai city is all set to witness more and more changes in the traffic system in the coming weeks, senior police officers say.
With umpteen number of vehicles hitting the roads every day , the police and other authorities are now compelled to find new routes and convert two-way systems into one-way traffic to accommodate these vehicles.
Soon after assuming office, the Inspector General and Commissioner of Police Sanjay Mathur had said that he would accord top priority to regulating traffic and sought public cooperation in implementing them.
The authorities, for their part, are studying different intersections and main thoroughfares.
One such spot is the B. B. Kulam, where after a study the traffic police installed road dividers. For those who are unaware of the problems in the location, there are five entry points at the B. B. Kulam junction. Vehicles come on both ways in all the directions, which include V. P. Rathinasamy Road, Narayana Café side, Central School road, the stretch leading to Visalakshipuram and the one towards LIC Colony. Everyday, shopkeepers in the locality would witness freak accidents, which sometimes were serious. Under such circumstances, the efforts to examine the junction have come as a welcome move. However, as expected, the move has not been wholly approved by all the road users. By dividing the road into two, the free movement of vehicles in any direction, which used to be the order till Wednesday, has now been curtailed. As a first step, the police feel that there should be a regulation among motorists’. Only when there is an orderly flow of vehicle, accidents could be prevented. Next, rash and negligent driving would be avoided.
Earlier, vehicles coming from Narayana Café could enter LIC Colony stretch straight.
However, in the new system, the vehicles have to take a left and proceed towards Central School and take a right turn in Singarayar Colony and enter LIC Colony road. Similarly, by curtailing right turn towards Rethinasamy Nadar Road from Narayana Café, the bottleneck is shifted from one point to another, but the problem does not seem to have been solved. Heavy vehicles plying on the road find it difficult to negotiate the stretch.
Suggestion
The motorists’ feel that during peak hours, the restrictions could be in force and non-peak hours could be two-way traffic as local residents feel the heat. By posting a policeman , the road users could be educated and then the new system could be introduced after clearing encroachments in small roads. Similarly, by slight modifications in shifting the bus stop away from the median, vehicle getting choked at the B.B. Kulam stop could be avoided, shopkeepers feel.
