Why are our urban cities such a nightmare? Starting Monday CNN-IBN will take you across India's six biggest metros to pin down what ails that city's traffic. We'll start with Delhi, which has great roads but a horrifying track record in road safety. 9000 accidents in the last year alone.
New Delhi:
It's the national Capital - home to world class Infrastructure wide main roads, extensive flyovers and multiple lane expressways. Yet, this network of more than 31,000 kms falls short of being the envy of other metros.
There is no end to traffic violations. In 2006, over 43 lakh challans were handed down to faulting road users.
Traffic rules say cars should not cross 50 km per hour in the city. Come nightfall and not many can resist stepping up the gas to test their machines on Delhi's smooth roads.
"Rules are meant to be broken. We don't care," says Karan who is a Student.
Last year saw 9000 accidents and over 2000 lives were lost on the roads - a rate among the highest in the country.
The traffic police knows who's to blame.
Joint CP, traffic Qamar Ahmed says, “70 per cent 75 per cent of accidents happen because of the negligence and carelessness of the driver."
"Delhi has better roads than most other cities in the country. And yet more and more people are killed in road accidents everyday. So what is plaguing the minds of Delhiites? Is it merely the lack of civic sense or a total disregard for the lives of their fellow citizens?"
IRTE President Rohit Baluja says, “It's not fair to blame only the road user. If the government has a mandate to have laws and legislations, then why not enforce them?”
Meanwhile Delhiites are playing own blame game.
Instead of passing the buck, it's time Delhiites use the wide roads to smoothen their travel and not speed it up.
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