This post is six months late pointing an accusing finger at the state of affairs of clog :-)
A friend of mine used to like driving in Gurgaon. It was because he considered it a mental exercise and truly it is. So, by the way of driving he was getting the much needed mental exercise which he could never manage during his full day in office. I believe driving in metros would account for a good portion of stress we have.
There are lot of factors that contribute to the bumpy state of affairs of our traffic like
1) poor roads (quality and quantity)
2) bad traffic discipline
3) Ineffective enforcement of rules.
In any situation we will always have a people factor contributing and I believe it has the maximum impact and can be fixed easily if we all decide to. However, before we go there, I have tried and categorize the ones who contribute to our traffic nightmares. Here goes the list of top offenders.
Misleaders: Our life puts us through a lot of choices/crossroads, sometimes it happens in the middle of the road. Which way should I turn, and these dilemmas create disruptive twists on the road. Indicating left and turning right isn't an uncommon sight to the extent when we see a signal only thing you can be certain is that the vehicle will not go straight and can turn either ways. On second thoughts I am not sure of even that part.
Headless Chickens: Acts of great risks are done by people who are either extremely courageous OR utterly naive (naive enough to ignore the danger). When faced with a challenge of crossing a busy road, some people get desperate and just jump into it assuming others will take care of them by not hitting them. They are completely oblivious of things going around them which are vehicles in this case.
Self Appointed traffic police(wo)men: The mantra of headless chickens would sound like "I would rather be dead than be on this side of the road". These guys are no headless chickens for they know that getting run over by a vehicle can kill you and it isn't worth risking your life for crossing the road. They come in cautiously and then try and manage the traffic around them. They would let some of them pass, ask some of them to stop and wait or others to go around them from their fronts or backs as would be prudent.
Communicators: I think I have taken a fancy on communicators because this is not the first time they have found a place in my writings. Here I think there are some sub-categories.
A friend of mine used to like driving in Gurgaon. It was because he considered it a mental exercise and truly it is. So, by the way of driving he was getting the much needed mental exercise which he could never manage during his full day in office. I believe driving in metros would account for a good portion of stress we have.
There are lot of factors that contribute to the bumpy state of affairs of our traffic like
1) poor roads (quality and quantity)
2) bad traffic discipline
3) Ineffective enforcement of rules.
In any situation we will always have a people factor contributing and I believe it has the maximum impact and can be fixed easily if we all decide to. However, before we go there, I have tried and categorize the ones who contribute to our traffic nightmares. Here goes the list of top offenders.
Misleaders: Our life puts us through a lot of choices/crossroads, sometimes it happens in the middle of the road. Which way should I turn, and these dilemmas create disruptive twists on the road. Indicating left and turning right isn't an uncommon sight to the extent when we see a signal only thing you can be certain is that the vehicle will not go straight and can turn either ways. On second thoughts I am not sure of even that part.
Headless Chickens: Acts of great risks are done by people who are either extremely courageous OR utterly naive (naive enough to ignore the danger). When faced with a challenge of crossing a busy road, some people get desperate and just jump into it assuming others will take care of them by not hitting them. They are completely oblivious of things going around them which are vehicles in this case.
Self Appointed traffic police(wo)men: The mantra of headless chickens would sound like "I would rather be dead than be on this side of the road". These guys are no headless chickens for they know that getting run over by a vehicle can kill you and it isn't worth risking your life for crossing the road. They come in cautiously and then try and manage the traffic around them. They would let some of them pass, ask some of them to stop and wait or others to go around them from their fronts or backs as would be prudent.
Communicators: I think I have taken a fancy on communicators because this is not the first time they have found a place in my writings. Here I think there are some sub-categories.
- Sudden Slowers: Cars suddenly slowing down on the middle of roads apparently for no reasons form the first category. They are people who fiddle around with their headsets/phones in an attempt to take all those urgent calls they need to take.
- Rajesh Khannas: They are people on two wheelers with their heads strategically tilted to support a mobile phone. It also, implies that they don't wear helmets. The ones with helmets are mellowed down RKs needing a lesser tilt for the cushion of helmets makes it easier to support phones.
- Loosely coupled cars: This is a pair of two two-wheelers going parallel like Jai and Veeru would have done if their bike didn't have a sidecar.
- Head Turners: This happens when the pillion rider is a girl. Not willing to lose even a moment of conversation with the pretty girl at the back the rider would perilously turn his head to listen to her every syllable. Love knows no fear.
The Foreigners: I have read about foreigners complaining of sad state of affairs of Indian traffic. Its about time I take the war back to them. They are the ones who contribute to the worst of it. Look at all these Bangladeshi rickshaw pullers. In Gurgaon traffic, travelling in a rickshaw pulled by a Bangladeshi is akin to riding Yamraj's buffalo. These vehicles with zero turning radius have the capability to 'turn' any traffic situation on its head and more often than not they do so.
If I stop at this post, I will have to accept myself as a complete whiner which I am not ;-) and hence I will be writing a post to put a simple plan that we can use to improve the situation.
Delhi-NCR celebrates Road safety weeks sometimes in the year, I guess the need of the hour is to celebrate Road Safety Years.
If I stop at this post, I will have to accept myself as a complete whiner which I am not ;-) and hence I will be writing a post to put a simple plan that we can use to improve the situation.
Delhi-NCR celebrates Road safety weeks sometimes in the year, I guess the need of the hour is to celebrate Road Safety Years.
Considering driving in Gurgaon a worthile mental excercise is confusing distress for eustress. - SD