Shade under trees indicates new stop lines at Nagpur junctions!

NAGPUR: Without proper road markings and stop lines at most of the 250-odd junctions in the city, vehicle drivers usually decide at what point they stop at red signals. In the summers, to avoid the scorching summer sun, most drivers halt some distance from the traffic junctions, in the shade of a tree or hoarding, causing traffic chaos at many places.
Though two-wheeler riders do it to avoid the sun, even four-wheeler drivers stop at such odd places while waiting for the red signal to turn green. This frequently leads to dangerous situations as more traffic approaches the junctions, resulting in chaos, said a senior traffic department official, who did not want to be named.
The senior official said, "We normally do not initiate action against such motorists. In the summer afternoons, even traffic cops stand under trees or under the shade of tea or paan kiosks at the square, to avoid the sun."
On Monday, TOI found that at many junctions, including Shankar Nagar, Maharajbagh, Rana Pratap Nagar, Law College square, Katol Road square, Narendra Nagar square on Ring Road, Manewada, Shraddhanand Peth square and Wardha Road, motorists preferred to stop where some big roadside trees provide shade and cool shelter for a few minutes.
Most motorists claimed that such behaviour is seen only in the summer afternoons, otherwise most motorists follow traffic guidelines and halt near the stop line. They said, "People want to avoid scorching heat and so they wait for the signal beneath a tree or some other shelter near traffic junctions."
However, motorists also wondered why policemen appointed to regulate traffic hide behind trees. "Cops do it because in any case they are more interested in levying fines than managing traffic on the road," the motorists claimed.
Senior citizen Murlidhar Prajapati told TOI, "We are aware that standing a few meters before a junction creates problems in smooth traffic flow, and could also result in a mishap. Even if the mercury is rising, it's always better to halt vehicles behind stop lines at squares. But then such scenes are seen only for a few days in summer."
A cop posted at Katol Road square questioned, "How do you expect us to regulate traffic and take action against these people when we ourselves are reeling under the scorching sun?" He said that the excessive heat is a problems for motorists too. "We normally ask them to stand behind the stop line, but as the stop at the signals is for hardly some seconds, we cannot force them to follow the rules to the T," he added.