City roads unable to take traffic

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TRANSPORT / City roads unable to take traffic
900 vehicles added daily
Deccan Herald


Bangalore’s claims to fame — being IT-BT hub, a preferred investor destination, and such — have not spared it some ill-fame. Reason? It ranks fifth among Indian cities with the highest number of road accidents and has a close ranking with Delhi and Mumbai on vehicular population.

It is said that as many as 900 vehicles are registered in the City daily; 75 per cent of them being two-wheelers.

Bangalore’s total road length is 4,200 km. But neither the size nor the quality of the roads is keeping pace with its vehicular population. Some prominent roads are taking a load that are way beyond their capacity and traffic jams are the order of the day.

As per the details available with the Bangalore Traffic Police, the vehicular population which was about 1 lakh in 1980 touched 22 lakh by May 2005.

Has this increase in number of vehicles contributed to smooth travel and transport for the general public? No. Be it car or jeep or bike, people are largely travelling alone in their favourite vehicle. They are helping none, and are only eating up the limited road space. The peak-hour snarls on prominent roads like Ulsoor Road, Airport Road, Bannerghatta Road, K R Market and others prove this in ample measure.

Vehicles with idling engines further contribute to environment pollution and economic loss in terms of fuel consumption. One-ways, widened roads, flyovers and underpasses, all meant to ease the situation, have not been much of a help.

The State government is now working on a plan – ‘Bangalore Metropolitan Traffic Management Authority - 2010’. The Karnataka State Road Development Corporation is in charge of the plan.

Automated traffic signals, state-of-the-art equipment that will help nab traffic offenders and measures to ease traffic congestion are all part of the plan. Much research has gone into the plan; when implemented, significant changes can be expected in the traffic situation in the City, said ACP Traffic K Eshwar Prasad.

2004: State figures for road accidents and casualties (6,496 deaths, 50,395 injured). Figures for Bangalore (903 deaths, 6,921 injured)

2005: Bangalore (623 deaths, 4,485 injured), Belgaum (445 deaths, 3,524 injured), Chitradurga (226 deaths, 2,653 injured)