Good Motoring
Sparkling traffic solar lights
H. Kishie Singh 

ONE of India’s most famous festivals is Divali. Sadly, it comes only once a year. Delhi seems to have been encouraged to welcome the visitors to the Commonwealth Games by installing all kinds of lights along the city’s roads. In the Capital it appears as if the festival of lights is just round the corner.

Possibly, one of the greatest recent inventions for road safety are the solar-powered flashing cat’s eyes. In days gone by, cat’s eyes were glass reflectors embedded into the road. They were usually white and glowed only when your car lights fell on them. Without a light to shine on them, they were useless.

The solar-powered flashing lights come in three colours that control traffic — red, amber and green — in Delhi. There should be only two, red and amber. These lights are charged during the day and flash all night long. They need no regulators, timers or on/off switches. In a country where electricity is in perpetual short supply, these solar flashers are a boon to regulating traffic.

Anyone who has ever walked, cycled or driven on a road knows what red, amber and green mean. Red means danger, amber means caution, and green means go! Go means no need to exercise caution; there is no danger. Proceed.

The road builders in Delhi seem to have got the meanings of these three colours confused, or the engineer in charge is colour blind. For people suffering from colour blindness, the easiest colours to confuse are red and green. Could this be the case, or plain, simple ignorance, or a desire to play with colours?

The areas in Luteyns Delhi and Chanakyapuri have been recently carpeted, and solar cat’s eyes have been installed. Flashing green lights are at the edge of the road. The edge of the road should have red. Red means danger; the message being: The road ends here, keep your distance. Exercise caution!

It is a mystery as to why green cat’s eyes have even been manufactured. They have no application anywhere. The only other colour that has some application is blue. It is for police use. Flashing red and blue lights will be seen on a police car on patrol duty. Red for danger coupled with blue, indicating police. A single blue dome light signifies a police official. Blue is for the exclusive use by the police. A red dome light means ambulance. VIPs also use a red beacon but the legitimacy is debatable.

Another enigma the PWD has provided Delhi drivers is the signs put up as a road divides into two. They are put up in the centre as a road splits. Normally, they are white arrows on a blue background and point downwards. The message being "pass on either side." That is what the sign in the lower picture says. The picture on top has a sign that makes no sense. It is upside down. Also, note the size of the arrows. Completely different, no standardisation. Again, left to the whims and fancies of incompetent traffic managers.

If they serve no purpose for regulating traffic, they are sure to amuse the visitors to the Commonwealth Games. They will provide comic relief from crumbling stadiums.

Happy motoring.

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