Among its many firsts, Kerala is the first state to have achieved 100 percent literacy. It also has the distinction of being the first to use electronic voting machines. One just hopes it would lead the way again. This time, in showing how to resolve chaotic traffic, especially the irresponsible variety.
Kerala’s motor vehicles department data show that since the state tightened driving test norms, pass rates are down to 52 percent. That should not surprise people from Europe, where failures have at times been foisted upon would-be licencees just to caution them to drive responsibly. But in most parts of India, driving licences are easy to get, often for a bribe.
Something must be fundamentally wrong with a country where car sales and highway expansion are regularly in the news, but chaotic road traffic less so—unless you count drawing-room conversations. Road rage is the stuff of black humour in Delhi, made famous by the line associated with brash brats: You don’t know who I am! Authorities often tinker at the margins, with no major progress. Experiences vary across cities, displaying their inherent culture—and in some cases, the lack of it.
Delhi is evidently at the bottom of the heap. Its infrastructure, built with abundant central funds, is far ahead, but its citizens do their best to undermine it. Things have moved back from the days of supercop Kiran Bedi, who was nicknamed ‘Crane Bedi’ for her penchant to order lifting of cars to punish violators. We could do with a reverse swing to those days.
Two contrasting bits of news last week showed huge administrative and regulatory gaps that need fixing.
Despite a vast number of traffic fines, a survey showed Delhi has been able to recover only 14 percent of the total challans issued, giving it the lowest recovery rate among all states and Union territories. Karnataka, at 21 percent, is not far ahead.
Who is going to police the police now? As a citizen of the national capital region, I regularly see all kinds of traffic violations: wrong-side driving, no-helmet driving, jumping signals, and the increasingly American-style act of taking a right turn from the right side of the road to encounter a vehicle legally turning left. This happens even on flyover ramps. I am not even speaking of the normalised honking and speeding perfected by wannabes.
I find all this a contrast from my days in Bengaluru, where I got the sense that traffic rules were far better implemented. But downtown roads were just not up to it. As incomes grew, the central area around a narrow lane, hyperbolically named Lavelle Road, became a place for luxury car showrooms. On nearby Kamaraj Road, earlier called Cavalry Road, we see BMWs and Audis vrooming where humbler horses once trotted. Credit goes to the authorities for imposing one-way restrictions that make the traffic flow smoother. It contrasts with Delhi’s “any way is my way” culture. In comparison, Mumbai and Chennai have reasonable traffic policing—though the cities’ denizens would surely complain.
Official data informed us a few years ago that the number of people dying in road accidents in a year was three times those killed by terrorists. It seems to matter little to anyone apart from some TV anchors who rant about drivers of luxury cars mowing down innocent pavement dwellers. The brands change, the events don’t. Last week, a Lamborghini was in the news when a person doing a test drive crashed into two wage workers in Noida, seriously injuring them. The driver is now out on bail.
New technologies make things seem fancier, but not on our roads. The New Delhi Municipal Council is planning a state of the art, integrated command-and-control centre to monitor hundreds of CCTV cameras to manage traffic under the Smart Cities mission. Drones are being used to control riots, but not to track traffic violations.
Meanwhile, the Chennai traffic police are using automatic number plate recognition cameras and real-time monitoring to identify violations. The city’s cops are also piloting a scheme to wear air-conditioned helmets for when the city weather sizzles. One hopes their malfunction won’t lead to brain freeze.
The expansion of car sales aided by cheap loans has fuelled a personal transport boom in India. But little attention has been paid to the larger ecosystem—be it road management, traffic violations, licensing systems or human behaviour.
I seriously think we need a ‘one nation, one road rule’ before we think of one election. I had to send back a car bought in Bengaluru from Delhi after realising the capital does not recognise a Karnataka’s no-objection certificate to issue a new number plate. From emission control to driving tests, we need seamless accountability. Efficient private bus services—not to be confused with random shuttles—that ensure more people reach their destinations in expected time can do better than clusters of single-passenger cars stuck at traffic jams. We should look at making buses more affordable.
A Singapore-style regime that places the onus of parking spaces on private parties and zoning laws that curb traffic in downtown areas are only two among several ideas that make sense. But we have not even begun thinking along those lines—not counting occasional experiments like former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s controversial odd/even number plate rules and plans to levy a congestion fee.
Somebody has to honk loudly to wake up policymakers. We need a full-service deal.
Madhavan Narayanan | Senior journalist
(Views are personal)
(On X @madversity)