690+ blog visitors in one day

** This is not directed at anyone or at any establishment. It's written with the best of intentions and without malice. For all practical reasons, please assume that this post is directed towards my alter ego - The Engineer who breaks rules!**

After my friend, Rahul, sent an email to his company's internal (& informal) email DL, this blog received more than 690 visitors! I assume that most of the visitors were educated. I think I should start saying literate rather than educated, because educated people will/should not break rules. We could know how to read/write but if we cannot perform basic civic duties, then can we really call ourselves educated? What "education" did we receive?

It pains me to see B.Tech, MCA and MBA grads driving as if they were just let loose from the zoo(You know I'm not exaggerating). If they're in an auto or a cab, they take solace in the fact that they're not driving so technically they're not breaking any rules when the cab driver jumps a red light! YOU have to take control. You have to reign in the erring drivers. One stern warning does the trick- tell him that you will get off the auto and not pay him if he doesn't follow the traffic rules. Tell the cab driver that you will get off and hire another cab and that he would have to pay for your fare if he doesn't follow traffic rules! If you really want it, then anything is possible. Don't point fingers at the Police or at the Government. Sure they're not the best, but we should only raise questions to them once we have done our bit and breaking rules is an individual thing. It's wrong, so don't tell me that you're doing it because everyone else is!

I just hope that this triggers the right kind of actions from all of us!

The Traffic Jam at Gachibowli (Opp Hill Ridge)

** Unedited version**

Techies who work in Gachibowli and the Financial District were stuck in a bad traffic jam (Bad? As Jack Nicholson in a Few Good Men asks Tom Cruise, “Is there another kind?”) this morning on the road in front of Hill Ridge Apartments. Lines of vehicles almost reached the traffic junction near IIIT. Looking at the way the traffic was building up, I thought there was a MAJOR problem that was causing this jam – maybe an accident or the road must have been dug up temporarily. Drivers thought that driving on the wrong side would help them steer clear of the traffic jam and they crossed the divider and started causing a jam on the other road also!

Do you know what the problem was? It was a truck that got stuck in the slush while attempting to turn left in front of the Gopichand Badminton Academy towards ISB/Microsoft/Infy and it had taken up one lane of the main Gachibowli road – THAT’S IT (If I missed something, please leave a comment and let me know). That was what caused the traffic jam where people were stuck for more than 30-45 minutes. Can you beat that? Something like this just required drivers to be smart and use the available 2 lanes and drive on ahead. Sure it will cause a bottle neck, but the delay would and should not have been more than 5 minutes. Yet, there was a massive build up of vehicles.

Alright, so even if we ignore the traffic jam for a moment, couldn’t some of those folks travelling in the vehicles have gotten out and helped move the truck and clear up the traffic? Not one person was interested in doing so! Everybody was interested in getting out of the jam even at the cost of bumping their cars into somebody else’s (This happened with us. This gentleman, who works close to where this jam occurred, thought that in order to change his lane, he could bang his car from behind into mine and then get ahead. After narrowly missing hitting my car, he had the audacity to honk his horn at my car all the way until he turned into his company’s parking. I also noticed that he was wearing a white shirt and tie so I assume he was an educated bloke. I don’t want to mention his car make and his company, because it will become easy to identify him. You sir, are exactly the reason why Hyderabad traffic suffers – educated people breaking traffic rules)

I stopped my car and got out to help. After checking out the situation, the Policemen and I tried pushing the truck out and in the process got splattered with slush. After about 5 minutes, a heavy duty machine used for digging was called in and it pulled out the truck. Even after that, people were still driving by slowly. The traffic policemen should have asked the drivers to move quickly to clear up traffic faster. Secondly, they should have stopped the vehicles from crossing the divider because that was slowing down traffic on both sides. After checking that the traffic was moving I left from there covered in mud to come back and write this post!

Why can’t we be considerate drivers? I too had the option of crossing the divider and moving into the wrong lane to get ahead, but I stayed put because I knew that I’d be causing a jam on the other side as well. Why in the first place did this happen? It was just one lane that was blocked and it should not have caused traffic on all 3 roads to stop moving. The reasons are:

· Nobody bothers about other drivers

· Concept of relaxed driving is alien. Everybody wants to get ahead.

· Rules can and will be broken without any thought. People look at the immediate gains rather than long term problems.

Tell me this: if each and everyone of you decided not to break rules from today(atleast the basic ones) and learnt to relax while driving, don’t you think that most of the traffic problems will go away? If this were to happen,

• Traffic junctions would function smoothly because vehicles would not have stopped ahead of a zebra crossing and blocked the road for the other side’s traffic
• Road rage would be minimal
• The competition between vehicles while overtaking would stop. Right now, the way things work is that if there are 2 cars side by side approaching a bus that has stopped on the left side, the car on the left (that is in the bus’s path) should wait to move in to the right lane (the second car’s lane) or wait until the bus moves again. But what happens is that the car on the left would just blow its horn and come on the right lane and the second car has to rely on Schumacher style skills to avoid getting hit. Why the hurry?
• Pedestrians would cross roads only at zebra crossings at traffic junctions or on Foot Over Bridges, instead of crossing, as Shakira would say, Whenever, Wherever!
• Bus would not wait in the middle of the road, but would wait in bus shelters or on the side of the roads
• Auto commuters would not stop and get off right in front of their offices, but would alight at a place that doesn’t hold up traffic. Can’t you walk an extra 20 steps?

So you see, lots of things could happen, but if all of you give up and take the easy way out looking at the immediate gains, then the long term effects of this would be…..pretty bad. You always have a choice, whether you choose to make the right one or the easy one is up to you!

1 year anniversary

Wow!! The traffic blog is a year old. I had it at the back of my mind that I had started this blog sometime in July 2007 and checked today that the blog was started on July 9th, 2007. When I started this blog, I had no idea that it would come this far and contribute in some small way to making the traffic in Hyderabad better.
Let's see what's been done so far:

• The Free The Left Lane(FTLL) campaign was successful, but unfortunately unsustainable without more support from techies and companies.
• Companies that were involved in the FTLL campaign were: SumTotal Systems, Oracle and CSC.
• We got featured on CNN IBN as a Citizen Journalist initiative.
• I got involved with the Right2Walk initiative and I currently hold the post of Secretary in the R2W foundation
• We also got in touch with a campaign that wants the Government of AP to check whether the Metro project is indeed the answer to Hyderabad's traffic woes.

There have been some disappointments as well; I had expected more people (esp the IT professionals) to participate actively in such initiatives, but I guess "Release Dates" is feared more than a traffic jam. No worries, I will continue work on projects that I think will make a difference. If after 10 years you feel that you could've made a difference, but didn't, then you can always come back to this post and leave a comment (I hope this blog will be around 10 years from now).

Some people responded to my idea of a short film on Traffic in Hyderabad by saying that others have tried making films showcasing the insensitive nature of Hyderabadi drivers and that it did not have any positive effect on the traffic condition. Well, lets see if I can change that. Even if one road user changes the way he/she drives/behaves on our roads, then it is worthwhile.

Important: Need pictures and videos on Hyderabad Traffic

I am starting work on a short film/documentary on Hyderabad traffic; the intent is to bring in a change in the way EDUCATED people drive on the roads. Most of us don't realize that we break rules - using the cell phone while driving, drinking and driving, breaking one way rules, etc. If you're in the habit of clicking pictures or recording videos of traffic jams or rules being broken, then can you please email me such pictures?

If you do not already have such pics/videos, and if it's not too much trouble, then can you please carry your camera with you and click away whenever you see traffic jams, accidents, etc? Please spread the word around and ask your friends/colleagues to send in pics as well.

Like I said, the intent is to capture educated people breaking rules. Please let me know if you have some ideas for the documentary.

Is it time to pick up the pace?

I was one of those incorrigble optimists - I believed that the average Hyderabadi cares for Hyderabad and is willing to put in effort to reign in the chaos on the roads. But, as time went by, it started dawning on me that the average Hyderabadi doesn't give a rat's backside to what happens to the other average Hyderbadi on the road. 'Me first, you ... who cares' attitude is ingrained in all of us. The same person who is usually late for office meetings, speeds through traffic because he cannot wait for another 90 seconds. (Arre boss, my time is precious and your life is not, so dont mind me running you over while I jump the red light.) That same guy when he reaches the office will most likely go get a coffee before he starts work. Hmmm... so could he not have waited for 90 seconds for that coffee? (Why should I care about you? My car, my wish, your car, your dent)
Anyway, watch this space for some updates on my plans.