9.40 a.m. A middle-aged man, on a motorcycle, with a bag slung across his shoulder, speeds out of Velachery Road. He rides into the vehicular traffic coming down the one-way and heads towards Saidapet through the barricades around the Rajiv Gandhi statue. When confronted, he admits to violating the one-way. “So what? I'm late for work,” he says.
Over the next 20 minutes, scores of vehicles violate the one-way arrangement on the wide, busy road near Little Mount. Though most of the violations are by two-wheelers and autorickshaws, even SUVs could be seen breaking the one-way.
Dealing with a speeding vehicle coming down the wrong side of a one-way has become an everyday reality for motorists on the city's roads. However, the Chennai City Traffic Police (CCTP) does not have data on the number of ‘No Entry' violations in the city.
M.K. Subramanian, secretary of the Automobile Association of South India (AASI), says: “Even on two-way roads, many use the wrong lane to enter a side street. Nobody stops them.” A case in point is Velachery Bypass Road, where after a couple of ‘U' turns were closed, this has become a common sight.
Violating a one-way also means posing a risk to other road users, particularly if the designated stretch is not wide. While vehicles coming from Race Course side are only permitted to take the road below the Guindy bridge to reach Saidapet, it is a daily scene to see vehicles coming down the flyover take a ‘U' turn and get into the narrow road. This is despite the police extending the barricade sometime ago.
There are 141 roads or stretch of roads in the city which have been designated as one-way. They constitute about 64.4 km of the city's 2,780 km road network.
Designating a stretch as one-way is one of the least expensive methods of traffic regulation. Just through the conversion, the vehicular carrying capacity of a road can be increased by 25 to 30 per cent, says T. Elangovan, Director, National Transportation Planning and Research Centre (NATPAC), Thiruvananthapuram.
However, roads with offices and commercial complexes that attract a lot of traffic should not be made one-way. Also, interference from side roads must be highly regulated. Western cities have adopted a model in which entry from alternate side roads are closed,” Mr. Elangovan adds. 11.30 a.m.: Brindavan Street, West Mambalam. It is a key connecting stretch for residents of K.K. Nagar and Ashok Nagar, and an entry point to T. Nagar for many localities. Despite a prominent median that cuts off the road from the Doraisamy subway, half a dozen two-wheelers zip past the stretch on the wrong side in 15 minutes during rush hour.
On many of the stretches, road signages are absent or not visible. The Chennai Corporation recently installed about 1,080 reflective signposts that glow in the dark in Zone 5 covering Anna Nagar and Kilpauk, based on a recommendation by NATPAC. More signboards are expected to be installed soon.
A. Veeraraghavan, Transportation Engineering Professor at IIT-Madras, says signboards must be installed even at the entry points from minor streets into a one-way.
According to him, one-ways will work only if they are looked at as a corridor. “Short stretches will never work. Otherwise, similar to badly constructed flyovers, it will only shift the problem to the next junction. Also, travel distance between two points must not increase by more than 50 per cent after the introduction of a one-way. Apart from design, enforcement is a major challenge,” Mr. Veeraraghavan adds.
8.15 p.m.: In just 10 minutes, six vehicles, including three cars, violate the one-way stretch on North Boag Road, T.Nagar. There is a noticeable spike in one-way violations in many parts of the city after 8 p.m. Most traffic-related fatalities occur at night. Nearly 40 per cent of all road accident fatalities occur between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. There are also some one-way roads where, irrespective of the time of the day, motorists use it as a two-way stretch, like the congested Gowdia Mutt Road in Royapettah.
Violations continue to happen as traffic policing in the city is seen as arbitrary by most motorists. It is easy to get away. “Paying a fine of Rs.50 is not a sufficient deterrent. Punishment is minimal and most policemen don't bother to book cases,” admits M. Ravichandran, a senior traffic sergeant. On a daily basis, the CCTP functions on a ‘quota' system. Each traffic sub-inspector is asked to book at least 30 cases every day. “Otherwise, many just stand in the shade until it's time to go home,” says Mr. Ravichandran.
Each of the 49 police districts is asked to book at least 100 cases every day. “Without a minimum target, enforcement will never happen,” says Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) M. Ravi. Besides, with only 1,923 policemen, CCTP is the least-staffed force among India's metropolitan cities. “Enforcement is only part of the solution. The attitude among motorists must change. Most don't hesitate to jump a signal if a policeman is not manning the junction,” he says. According to him, because of the limitations, there will be a major push towards e-enforcement. “Very soon, 200 surveillance cameras will be installed in 40 junctions in the city. Cameras would make it almost impossible to get away with a violation,” he adds.
With inputs from Ajai Sreevatsan, Liffy Thomas, R.Sujatha, K.Lakshmi, Petlee Peter and S.Aishwarya
Keywords: one-way, traffic violations
Bala, you are a moron. Freedom is not freedom when you hinder the freedom of
others. Secondly, Americans are not afraid - they are civilized.
I happen to read this article only now.I wish someone from the traffic Police department reads these comments!I was shocked to see that police vehicles violate the one way street rules by going in the wrong direction.They are traffic rules enforcing people and if they do it ,God only should save us!This has started almost 10 yrs ago.what was started as a practice inocuously by the violators has spread like cancer. I find school students follow the wrong practice and are exposing themselves to great danger.All of us are not only vehicle users but also pedestrians for moving short distances around our homes.I, for one ,am not sure how many directions you has to look before crossing the junction ,as there will be a Johny,who will be coming from wrong direction and you can be caught unaware. There are accidents taking place to pedestrians for no fault of theirs.Why should they suffer ,because some one is violating the rules?
It is a serious matter and unless the Commissioner of Police takes up seriously and does take some positive actions,I don't see any solution.
I have been living in the US for while now and I have seen these shark blades at the entry and exit gates to stop people from entering into the property and I would like to suggest these as I believe this would be the most advisable than to employ some one to enforce the rule. Please refer to the hyper link : http://www.trafficspikesusa.com/html/roadshark___road_shark_traffic.html
How about putting that No Entry sign in Tamil? Will that help?
A wonderful article to highlight the enormity of these violations in Chennai. Driving in several streches mentioned in this article has been a nightmare to several motorists. It is high time the authorities take cognisance and work on impriving the condition. With more vehicles being added to the City traffic on a daily basis, the condition if not addressed soon, will lead to a lot of anrchy and chaos in Chennai roads.
We are a highly advanced democratic country and so such things are common - based on fundamental rights to do whatever we like. In USA the people are scared of traffic police as they enforce law without worrying about the person's status. I had a funny incident few years back when my car was hit from behind by a student along with his friends. I somehow cornered then and took them to Royapettah police station. When I was explaining the SI, suddenly the student came crying with torn shirt. He told SI that I beat him, and I dashed his car. After few minutes one consatble took me aside and told that the boy is the son of local MLA and so requested me to withdraw the case or else they will file an FIR against me for dashing and beating the innocent boy. So when democracy is at peak, let us not worry about petty traffic rules.
Please Email the Editor