Light & shade? It’s also about rules at traffic lights : The Tribune India

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Light & shade? It’s also about rules at traffic lights

How many times have you noticed a road habit that is so unique to Chandigarh? Two-wheeler riders and motorists have a penchant for parking their vehicles in the shade of the nearest tree at a traffic light even if it is some distance away to stay away from the hot summer sun.

Light & shade? It’s also about rules at traffic lights

While drivers prefer the shade at traffic lights, which is quite understandable in summer, it also creates snarls on roads. Nitin Mittal



SANDEEP SINHA

How many times have you noticed a road habit that is so unique to Chandigarh? Two-wheeler riders and motorists have a penchant for parking their vehicles in the shade of the nearest tree at a traffic light even if it is some distance away to stay away from the hot summer sun.

While this seems perfectly natural in the gruelling heat, the flip side is that it results in causing inconvenience to others. I once stopped at the traffic light in Sector 27 and there was a huge SUV ahead of me. I couldn’t see ahead from my small car, not even the traffic lights, and thought there was a long queue of vehicles ahead. Suddenly, the vehicle rumbled to life and with a lurch, swerved right from the intersection. Then it dawned on me. The road ahead was an empty stretch and the SUV driver had parked himself in the shade of a building and was lost in conversation on his mobile. By the time my turn came, it was red light again and the wait grew longer.

This is one feature that is evident at other traffic lights too, especially on Dakshin Marg, near the Sector 34 roundabout, where commuters conveniently seek the shelter of trees, even if it means blocking the free left turn. Vehicles not adhering to their lanes block the left turn causing unnecessary snarls.

So, it was with interest that one read about the decision of the UT Administration to introduce road-safety education as a subject in its schools. 

The idea in itself is not new. One remembers reading about that cardinal principle of crossing roads in school books ages ago—First, look to your left, then to your right, then to your left again and then cross the road. Rhymes were taught in play schools: “Red light, red light what do you say? I say stop and stop right away.”

But those are about halcyon days. The surging traffic requires better management and awareness holds the key. What better way than to teach road safety to sensitise young minds. With the problem of underage drivers increasing on roads, the initiative makes all the more sense.

At the Sector 32 roundabout on Dakshin Marg, as the light turned green, I moved on. Ahead of me was a young girl on a scooty, her mother riding the pillion. A taxi overtook her, dangerously close. Unnerved, the girl fumbled and lost her balance, falling on the road right in front of me. The girl needed some help and traffic was held up on a busy stretch.

Gurvinder Singh, Motor Vehicle Inspector, on duty at Children’s Traffic Park in Sector 23, says youngsters not below the age of 16 years are entitled to drive, that too, only vehicles of 50 cc to 60 cc without gear. This does not include Activa. Violation of law also entails the cancellation of the driving licence of one of the parents in addition to other measures. But with parents finding it hard to spare time, they opt to compensate their kids materially, leading to recklessness among the youngsters.

The MVI narrated incidents where during a test for driving licence, a youth kept disregarding the use of indicators while turning. “The boy came to me with a bruised arm a few days later. A driver ahead of him had done exactly what he had been doing. He then understood what I had been trying to tell him,” said Gurvinder Singh, adding that there are quite a few who boast of their parents’ connections. and how they would be able to get away with it. Parents too need to introspect, he says.

Inside the Children’s Traffic Park, a session is on for youngsters. Head Constable Rajendra Singh says it is the environment in which a child lives that matters. “Parents have no time to drop their children for tuitions. So, they hand over the keys of vehicles to them. What can we do?”

Informing them certainly seems to be one way out. 

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