Have you ever gotten the rotten end of a traffic jam? Got honked and cursed at for driving slightly slower than the rest of the traffic? ( like it would even make much difference because the traffic isn’t going anywhere with it deadlocked for a couple of city blocks!) Gotten cut of from the left by private buses of some hot-shot driver who think’s they have the right to way since they are in hurry? Having two wheeler’s and autorickshaw’s take a right and left at will? And of course the pedestrians deciding to cross right when you get a green light? Welcome to Kochi and I guess mostly a lot of other cities where traffic rules are poorly enforced or where they may not even exist at all.
courtesy, The Hindu
Kochi has a lot to improve in terms of introducing efficient rules and regulations and abandoning ones that are too deplorable. It is literally hell for most commuters trying to survive each day’s of traffic. What most people need’s a class on what not to do and what to do. And this does not only concern people who drive but pedestrians. They have a right to way to too, but there are rules or certain factors to consider too. You can’t cross right at a junction when that road has gotten a green signal, wait till it turns red, if automobiles can wait, I guess pedestrians can too. The authorities must really consider revamping the way people can travel within the city. It is not an impossible feat, unless we still want to be in the stone age while the rest India develops.
courtesy, The Hindu
Sid and me were testimony to a very unrealistic approach by a 4-wheeler to traverse through traffic near the Shenoy’s Junction. A lot of drivers consider honking wildly with their horn’s ( that too the really-loud-able-to-hear-several-block-away kind) will get them to magically open up space in an otherwise jam-packed road. That was what had happened to us while we were traveling on my Bullet. If there was way to give of course I am always happy to oblige, but when any person with common sense can see that there is physically no way that a route can be charted between the sardine-tin tight traffic. But as a lot of people who drive in Kochi they still blared on,to the amusement of other drivers all we could do was smile and wave at them and wonder what they are getting at.
Its due to multitude of incidents like this where we really need some kind of a solution to the chaos that reigns in the streets. I figure with all the botched up projects by the authorities that redemption is a little way off the horizon.
Feel free to add your experiences and suggestions.
