PUNE: As vehicles increasingly roll out onto the roads following the easing of the Covid-induced curbs and drop in daily infections, citizens rue the return of traffic chaos.
Picture the bustling Salunkhe Vihar Road, chock-a-block with one of its regular traffic snarls with a car, a couple inside, proceeding on the wrong side. The man on the wheels honks, seeking a way ahead though the other motorists struck in the snarl.
As one of the drivers protests, the man, despite being on the wrong side of the road, stops his vehicle and picks up an argument and his wife raises her pitch, too. This further worsens the situation, with the motorists and bikers spending almost half-an-hour to cover a distance of 100m.
The situation on Salunkhe Vihar Road is common in various parts of the city.
Wrong-side driving
continues to be a major headache for the police and also most motorists abiding by the laws.
When TOI approached a few motorists on finding them bending the traffic rules on the Pune-Solapur highway, the replies were instant.
“I am travelling a short distance. Do you want me to travel 2km to cover a distance of just 200m? The wrong-side detour saves me time,” said a motorcyclist.
Fatimanagar
resident Mohammed Imran Shaikh said, “Two months ago, boys were on the wrong side of the road and their vehicle hit my car in Wanowrie. One of them came to me and hit me. Before I could react, they fled. The menace of wrong-side driving is back on the roads,” he said.
Kasba Peth
resident Sonal Mhasawade said, “The roads in the city’s old parts are narrow and the bikers on the wrong side make the pedestrians’ life difficult.”
Bibwewadi resident
Aditya Kulkarni
said, “Our area has many shops and customers park their vehicles wherever they want. Many autorickshaw drivers use the wrong side of the road.”
Senior police officers claimed action was being initiated. “If one gets caught, they now need to be produced to court. The court decides on the punishment. We have told our personnel on the field to stay alert and check the problem. The police are doing their job. But citizens should also be responsible,” DCP (traffic) Rahul Shrirame told TOI.
Harshad Abhyankar, director of Save Pune Traffic Movement, said, “The traffic police are seen at signals. The signals are installed to streamline traffic. So, if the policemen are doing the same job, it’s a waste of taxpayers’ money. They should free themselves from behaving like a signal and patrol other places. Just the feeling that ‘I can’t see a traffic cop, but what if he can see me?’ is enough to improve the traffic discipline. That’s exactly what happens in developed countries.”