A few days ago the Chief Minister of Delhi Ms. Sheila Dikshit had stated that the people of Delhi are to be blamed for the traffic jams in the city. She isn’t entirely wrong, when she makes such statements. We all have the tendency to break the rules for our convenience whether on the road or off the road.
Traffic Jam at ITO
Don’t we break the lane system? This is one of the most common forms of traffic violations. It may also be possible that many of us don’t even know the lane system means or what the signboards on the road stand for. We just change the lanes with least respect for other vehicles on the road. We never hesitate to overtake other vehicles from left side, which is illegal too.
Don’t we block the left turn even when it’s free? It’s something which we often encounter on Delhi roads and I’m certain that it’s an experience that holds good in most other Indian cities – the pride with which drivers block the free left turn, when they have to go straight. We just block the left lane in the sake of reaching ahead of the race. But we forget that it’s a road not a racing track. It stops the flow of traffic and more & more vehicles add to the jam.
Don’t we park at the tow away zones or near red lights? On my way home from office, there is a red light in the end of Siri fort road. Almost every day, two-three cars are always parked just before the red light and it makes that road more congested. Also people block the road on the left lane even when the signal is green for left turn.
Don’t we stop or slowdown our vehicles outside worship places? I often go to my office via Lodhi Road and I always know that I will reach late on Thursdays because Sai Baba’s temple is there. We stop our vehicles outside the temple and touch the road or bow to get the blessings of baba. But it occurs to none, the inconvenience that others might experience because of this.
A two-wheeler rider outside a temple
Don’t we go towards wrong side or take illegal U-turns?
We all can contribute to reduce traffic jams by following rules. All these efforts may not solve this problem completely but it will certainly help. And no one will be able to blame us. Whenever we are stuck in a traffic jam, we should think of all those instances when we have broken these rules and contributed to Traffic Jams.
A rare sight in India, all the vehicles have stopped before the stop line
Please share your suggestions to reduce traffic jams in the comment box below.
PS: In the next part, I will try to point the areas where government is found faulty or can extend its influence to curb jams.
Weconscious has come up by combining two words “WE” & “CONSCIOUS”. Thereby meaning, we the people who ought to be conscious about our rights & duties. We Conscious is a pious effort to highlight, show, and educate people of the various monsterheads of corruption, moral degradation and gross civic negligence that are rampant in our society. It’s an effort to highlight the illegalities we suffer on day to day basis.
{ 2 trackbacks }
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
This is absolutely true. Its not the government to be blamed for, its you and me. Each and every person in the city is to blame. Every citizen happily passes the buck to the government when they themselves take pride in dirtying the city and breaking traffic rules. Why there is no lane discipline followed in the city? A city becomes a world class city because of its citizens and the way they behave and not by the construction of flyovers and roads alone.
Can we have a banner behind our vehicles that read “I am driving in my Lane. Are you?”
The fact is that many people will read this and will realise that there is something like lane discipline. There are infact a majority of good drivers and good people in our city, its just that they are not aware.
Agreed with Glen, I am going to do this. Cheers!