Bangalore, a city of two-wheelers

'Two-wheelers and not cars are the main contributors to traffic congestion'

Two-wheelers and not cars are the main contributors to traffic congestion in the city, according to Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) B. Dayanand. Bangalore is a “city of two-wheelers” as almost 70 per cent of the traffic comprises two-wheelers.

Speaking at a symposium on ‘Crime and traffic in Bengaluru City’ organised by the Advocates’ Association, Bangalore, here on Thursday, he explained that the population-to-vehicle ratio in Bangalore is 2:1.

For every two persons there is one vehicle in Bangalore that has a human population of around 95 lakh. Two-wheelers account for 31.7 lakh vehicles out of the 46 lakh in the city.

Referring to the high vehicular density on the city roads, City Police Commissioner Raghavendra H. Auradkar said that Bangalore has the highest number of vehicles among cities of its size in the world. In addition to the 46 lakh vehicles, the city clocks at least two lakh floating vehicles per day, he added.

With high vehicular density, the number of deaths in road accidents has been on the rise since 2002, and that is a cause of worry. Giving details about the existing traffic infrastructure, he said there are 53 pelican lights, 20 variable message signboards which will be increased to 40 soon), five traffic enforcement cameras and 174 surveillance cameras. Another 100 CCTV cameras will be added in the city soon.

He also said an Android-based app using which pictures of traffic violations can be directly uploaded on the Public Eye website will be launched in a week’s time.

Mr. Auradkar pointed out the lapses in traffic infrastructure, even while reiterating that the police was not responsible for it. “To begin with, we don’t have enough lanes and bylanes while in cities such as Chennai, Hyderabad and New Delhi, 30 per cent of the traffic load is taken by them. Our roads are also very narrow. Speed breakers, which are supposed to be on the side roads and not main roads, are on main roads here. Also, dividers have openings at short distances creating opportunity for U-turns,” he said.