Traffic signal lights on NH 5 near the new Government General Hospital have not been working for several months now. This is the junction by which all heavy vehicles that cross Benz Circle pass through.
Controlling the heavy vehicles that come from either side is an Herculean task for the two policemen on duty at the junction.
“For traffic coming from Ramavarapadu Circle, there is no ‘Z’ barricading. There are no signal lights or inlets in between. So, the heavy vehicles coming into the city will be on top gear by the time they reach this junction. They don’t even notice the policeman trying to stop them. Similarly, there is an open stretch of road from the Ramesh Hospital Junction and the vehicles come at full speed by the time they reach here,” says the constable on duty. If traffic signals are needed anywhere, it is here, he says.
In addition, all heavy vehicles, some of them having long trailers, come from Autonagar on to the highway at this point because the Mahanadu Road is the only road open to them.
While one policeman is sufficient to man the junction if signal lights are working, two have to be on duty to regulate the traffic when they are not functioning. This is not the story of just this junction. Solar power is being used to operate signals without interruption at some centres, but precious manpower has to be deployed at the junctions where signals don’t work. Even the solar-powered signals at some places are defunct. Even at junctions where signal lights are working, most road-users do not seem to take them seriously.
RTC buses ply as if they are exempted from the red signal. Road-users who do stop at the signals are thronged by groups who have a variety of wares to sell. Marketing at traffic signals is big business in the city, with a select group selling the same items at all junctions.
During the Christmas season, Santa Claus caps and masks are sold. Plastic toys from China, hair clips, and other trinkets too are sold by persons, many of whom qualify to be child labour.
The recent ban on sticking of dark film on car windows has prompted these persons to sell China-made sunshades.
If the police department does not curb this, who will?
