‘The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind’

Siddhant Sapra

Advertisement

“Yes, and how many deaths will it take till he knows that too many people have died?” While these famous lines by Bob Dylan, from his song Blowin’ In The Wind, are from a time when vehicles had not yet taken over roads, they describe the current situation of road accidents quite effectively. Pick up the newspaper any day and you are nearly certain to read about fatal road accidents. They are so common that we have become almost indifferent to them, even though at 1,50,000 deaths a year, it means that 17 of us are dying in road accidents every hour.

The common notion about road accidents is that they are caused by negligent drivers, or are merely a matter of chance and therefore inevitable. This is not always true and is something that can be observed in Chandigarh itself. In its ‘Road Accident Analyses Book – 2018’, the Chandigarh Traffic Police have identified 15 accident-prone spots. Of these, 10 are traffic light-points, four are areas with pedestrian traffic and only one such point is a roundabout. While this is a proof enough to say that roundabouts cause fewer fatalities than traffic lights, the fact is also proven in worldwide studies.

How roundabouts help

A roundabout is a traffic calming device which works 24x7 because of its design. When properly constructed, approach roads curve as they enter a roundabout, automatically slowing down approaching traffic, whereas at traffic lights, drivers often speed up to beat the light. Guidelines for roundabouts published by the Indian Roads Congress (IRC) mention, “When a cross-road is converted into a roundabout, the number of conflicts can be reduced from 32 to eight wherein potential right-angle collision will be converted to angular collision.” This is particularly important at night when there are crashes due to vehicles disregarding traffic lights.

Death traps

The Sector 46/47/48/49 traffic light on Vikas Marg is a site of repeated accidents. Following yet another fatal accident in July 2018, a newspaper reported, “Man dies, 3 injured at site of 32 accidents in 2 years.” Within a fortnight, there was a news article that the SSP (Traffic) had proposed a roundabout should be built at this spot, which was welcomed. Reader responses invited by The Tribune the following week were also heavily in favour of a roundabout. However, a whole year has passed since, and there is no sign of the proposal being implemented.

As you head down the road, the next two intersections also have traffic lights and are equally treacherous. Travel further and the remaining six intersections are roundabouts. Their presence only proves that it is possible to build them on this road and there is no reason for the three traffic light-points to be allowed to remain.

Risks at roundabouts

Chandigarh’s roundabouts were well designed for their times. As traffic increased, in periodic knee-jerk reactions, approach roads and circulatory widths were expanded by shrinking splitter islands. This has reduced the entry curve, causing vehicles to drive in faster. Not only safety, but efficiency too has unwittingly been reduced as the extra road width is only used by people trying to squeeze ahead of the vehicle in front, disrupting smooth flow. Fundamental rules of entry, exit and circulatory widths and their curvatures were all overlooked. Had they been followed, our roundabouts would have functioned better.

Although still safer than traffic lights, motorists have a tendency to crash into roundabouts at night if they do not realise that they are approaching one. This could happen because a driver is inebriated or sleepy, or the roundabout has poor visibility due to improper lighting or winter fog. The high parapet wall made of solid brick masonry, which is much higher than the 225mm recommended by the IRC, leads to increased vehicle damage and passenger injury when there is a crash.

The way forward

In neighbouring Panchkula, an initiative was undertaken to improve roundabouts. The changes in design reduce injury if any vehicle drives straight in. More importantly, the chances of such an accident are lower because roundabouts are well lit and have reflective arrows all along their wall. It takes just a late night visit to Chandigarh’s roundabouts and then to Panchkula’s to see the contrast.

Other design improvements are possible. Splitter islands need to be reconstructed to reduce the defects mentioned above and their night visibility should be enhanced by adding reflectors. Some years ago, table-top speed-breakers were introduced at the Sector 29/30/32/31 roundabout to provide easier passage for pedestrians and cyclists. These have had the side benefit of increasing safety and efficiency by slowing down approaching vehicles. However, their presence at exit roads reduces efficiency. It would be worthwhile experimenting at other roundabouts by adding speed-breakers only at entry roads.

If all these endeavours were to save even one life, that is enough justification to undertake them. 

Yes, and how many times can a man turn his head

And pretend that he just doesn’t see?

The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind

The answer is blowin’ in the wind

Trust in government to protect our Fundamental Rights

We place our trust in the government to protect our Fundamental Rights, one of which is the Protection of Life and Personal Liberty enshrined in Article 21 of the Constitution. Surely, that trust is being belied when such death traps are allowed to exist. Is it not legally as well as morally binding upon the government to do everything it can to maximise the safety of its citizens? Every citizen, like me, deserves to have these questions answered.

(The author is a student of Class XII at Strawberry Fields High School, Chandigarh)