The government and local bodies in the city need to focus on parking-related issues instead of promoting events like Open Streets, opined M.N. Sreehari, traffic expert and an advisor to the State government on traffic issues.
In a live web chat with readers of The Hindu as part of the Better Bengaluru campaign, Prof. Sreehari answered several questions related to traffic problems in the city. In a strongly worded reply to a question on potholes, Prof. Sreehari asked citizens to pressure their councillors as the BBMP is the ultimate owner of roads.
“It is job of BBMP to rectify, repair, and permit the road users to drive safely. Councillors can take up the issue with the engineers of their respective wards and hence citizens can directly meet the engineers concerned. In case they are not able to take it up, the issue can be reported to the councillor, city Mayor or even BBMP Commissioner,” he said.
Other issues discussed in the chat included stricter policing by Traffic Police to ensure that cyclists get dedicated lanes instead of these lanes becoming parking spaces for cars. Prof. Sreehari placed the onus of keeping the lanes clear on both the Traffic Police and the locals of the area. “It is the joint responsibility of traffic enforcement personnel and the citizens to act more responsibly, and the latter cannot expect policemen to do everything. Every individual also should become a policeman.”
He also suggested that a good way to reduce traffic violations would be to install CCTV cameras across 5,000 major junctions, which would make violators think twice before breaking traffic rules. He suggested that the annual turnover of around Rs. 60 crore collected as fines by the Traffic Police could be used for this purpose.
The entire transcript of the chat can be accessed online at: > thne.ws/1KXkCOc
