Traffic congestion: onus lies on commuters too

Traffic congestion: onus lies on commuters too



TIMES NEWS NETWORK



Bangalore: Motorcycles, cars and BMTC buses fighting for space is a common sight on city roads. Finding alternative routes, leaving early for office, suddenly realising some roads have been converted to oneways..... Fed up with all this, Sankey Park Walkers’ Association has taken up a new initiative on traffic awareness.
The association on Sunday launched the Traffic Rules Pledge, a sticker campaign with focus on commuters rather than on infrastructure. The ‘I pledge to follow traffic rules sincerely’ sticker was distributed among BMTC bus drivers and conductors.
Association secretary B R Vijayakumar said to a large extent, traffic violation by commuters result in jams on city roads. “Generally, poor infrastructure is blamed, but we forget the fact that traffic violation by commuters results in congestion too. A hurried commuter who is unaware of traffic rules will create problems.”
The campaign aims to make commuters follow traffic rules, he said, and hoped the sticker would act as a reminder to commuters, motivating them to follow traffic rules.
Additional commissioner of police (traffic) Praveen Sood, joint commissioner of police (crime) Gopal B Hosur, DCP (west, traffic) Panduranga H Rane, BMTC chief traffic manager Dastagir Sharieff were among those who attended the launch.
Apart from the sticker campaign, the association is looking forward to introducing other initiatives to reduce the city’s burgeoning traffic problems. Vijayakumar said: “The idea of hiring unemployed youth, training them in traffic rules and placing them at various junctions of the city to reduce congestion is gathering momentum.”
The association is also looking at educating autorickshaw drivers and BMTC drivers about traffic rules. “However, these initiatives are in the pipeline. We are looking forward to implement these ideas as early as possible,” Vijayakumar added.