CHENNAI: The new traffic regulations introduced in Thiruvanmiyur by the Chennai City Traffic Police have raised the hackles of motorists and residents alike through Saturday. What could, however, make their Sunday morning better would be the fact that the CCTP is not happy with its new setup either, and a return to the old scheme is most likely from Monday morning.
The new traffic scheme was aimed at reducing traffic congestion in the busy area. Similar methods had yielded results in a number of other busy areas in the city, but proved less than tolerable in Thiruvanmiyur.
“Very bad,” Sanjay Arora, Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic), told Express on Saturday evening. “We are extremely unhappy with the results. It has just not worked on Saturday, thanks to the large number of buses that pass through. The buses have only added to the pile up,” he added.
“We made a similar attempt last year. We introduced that scheme with a few changes. We will observe the flow on Sunday, and will most probably revert to the old system by Monday morning,” Arora said.
Residents, motorists as well as traffic policemen in the area complained about the new system. Some called it impractical as all traffic would have to come to a halt for every MTC and SETC bus that stopped at the bus stops on the narrow road, a bottleneck that should have been foreseen.
“This is madness. How do they expect us to come out of our homes when every street is a one-way? We have to go all the way around for every small thing. It is not like the new system is helping in the smallest bit,” said Senthil Kumar, a hemmed-in resident of Kamaraj Nagar. “Continuous honking of horns and heavy vehicles plying all the time in a residential area is a recipe for disaster,” said another.
Traffic cops, who have been brought to the area to moderate the transition, and auto-drivers wore ‘I told you so’ looks when told about the impending return to the old system on Monday.
“A traffic system has to be of use to someone. If it inconveniences everyone, including the officials, then it is no good and should be done away with,” said a traffic inspector from a suburb, who was posted at Thiruvanmiyur on Saturday.
