Roads revisited !

Today morning a colleague, Girish, met with an accident. He is severely bruised in his arms and knees. Fortunately he wore a helmet today and was very near to Malaya Hospital, so first aid could be provided in time.

It is a very common observation that people commute to office for almost 20-25 kms, one way, on their two wheelers, driving almost one hour to reach the workplace. Every day the road traffic is increasing by leaps and bounds whereas the roads are still the same. The traffic is worse during rush hours.

How much traffic the present roads in Bangalore can handle and for how long? Stretching to limits one day the system will succumb to the mounting pressure. To make things worse, the roads of Bangalore are in terrible shape, decorated with bumps, puddles and garbage. Not to mention the air pollution that keeps your eyes red, your face painted with a layer of dust and your temper at an all time low threshold.

Traffic Police in Bangalore seems to be sensitive to this issue. Such pro-activity is commendable. Many roads have been converted into one-ways to accommodate the manifold increase in traffic volume. This is a good step albeit it is inconvenient in the sense that now I have to drive 1-2 km to reach a store that was at a walk-able distance. Similar is the story of many residents in Bangalore. But this is an acceptable trade-off to the worsening traffic condition in Bangalore.

The moral of the incident: “Please wear a helmet”, the traffic is not getting any better or the condition of roads improving hence in order to protect your head and to keep your lungs shielded from pollution, to some extent.

I think introduction of “Metro Railways” will alleviate the current problem of commutation, driving for 1-2 hrs daily is serious job. Owing to the fact that Bangalore has very little or less space for construction of rail roads connecting different parts of the IT hub, it will be a boon for people, if there can be underground rails laid or more flyovers/ bridges are built that too in less time. Also it is your duty to cooperate with traffice police and abide by the set rules and regulations.

Drive Safely!