Why
is there a poor traffic sense in India
Let
me try to break this up into a few areas:
a.
Vehicle Drivers
b.
Infrastructure
c.
Governance Mechanisms
d.
General civic sense
1.
Who gets to drive vehicles & how? (Related to Vehicle Drivers)
2.
How does the traffic infrastructure match the growth in vehicle numbers? (Infrastructure)
3.
When did any of the Indian cities have its last holistic review of its
infrastructure and plan for next 20 years? (Infrastructure & Governance)
4.
Is it about people or is it about the total system? (Governance & Civic
sense)
1.
Who gets to drive vehicles & how?
Teenagers,
Middle aged, Old aged, women, under aged people. How do they get to drive? They
get a license to drive (or kill?). Driving license is at a national level but
states are responsible for issuing these licenses.
Are
there any objective and standard evaluation/testing methods in place? Apparently
NO.
Are
such testing methods possible? Apparently Yes.
Can
they be put in place? Yes/No (Depends on executive or political will).
Since
no one shall get an additional vote for setting up such a system I do not think
any political leader is going to invest their time or effort in that direction.
The only option is that they are assured some kick backs from setting up such
system!
Taking
next two questions together
2.
How does the traffic infrastructure match the growth in vehicle numbers? (Infrastructure)
3.
When did any of the Indian cities have its last holistic review of its
infrastructure and plan for next 20 years? (Infrastructure & Governance)
Vehicular
growth has exploded because of different reasons. Easy availability of credit
and unprecedented growth in economy. What about infrastructure? It is always in
a catch up mode and is apparently loosing the race by a wide margin.
As
on today infrastructure is apparently limited to widening of existing roads for
motor vehicles and fly overs primarily. Hey did some one think about the old
lady who requires crossing the road so that she can drop her grand daughter to
school and bringing her back safely? What about the person who is pushing a
hand cart or moving in a wheel chair?
How
shall a cyclist take a right turn in a city road to the side lane? (India
Why
is it that new business centres have not been built up so that business centres
are evenly spaced out and residential areas are spread around amongst these
places so that it is not traffic always moves in one direction in morning and
in evening it moves in opposite direction?
How
can these problems be addressed?
Now
the last part of the equation
4.
Is it about people or is it about the total system? (Governance & Civic
sense)
What
is the capacity public mode of mass transport available (not autos or taxis, but
buses and trains)? Infrastructure may have been trying to catch up to some
extend, but mass public transport did not increase its capacity or facility.
Can
ladies get easy access to clean & safe public toilet when using mass
transport systems?
What
are the penalties or punishments for a road accident which takes the life of a
person or injures some one seriously? Hardly anything or depends on how
powerful or wealth the people involved in accident is!
We
do not value human lives in India
Yes
it can be improved with a leadership which has a good vision and commitment
towards the well being of the ordinary people. Will we have such a leadership
in my generation? We can if we vote more times than we participate in an online
debate or write blogs!
