I have seen this city since the days it was just beginning as the “IT destination”. The driving was a lot more defensive, and the roads were just sufficient for the number of vehicles. But then Mr Chandrababu Naidu was just starting. Many of us IT professionals came to the city and its already bursting at the seams.
Vehicles keep passing long after the light has turned red, and that ultimately ends up in a dead lock, even at major road junctions. People drive right left and center, and it usual to see a car(or a bus/auto/truck) standing diagonally at junctions at the red light.
Pedestrians? Well we got 33 million gods, and one of them invariably gets into action when a pedestrian crosses the road(A quote from my friend Amit).
The mild and gentle small city seems to be revolting against growing up.
It was the same in Delhi few years back. The traffic has improved multiple times there, though its no where close to what is expected from a big city. Two major reasons I see for the change are :
1. Infrastructure Changes: Unlimited widening of roads, flyovers, subways etc.
2. The strict Traffic Police – I still remember the caning, and ‘challan-ing’ at the LaxmiNagar chowk few years back. This combined with technology of video cameras, and interceptors, has helped them control traffic to a large extent.
Hyderabad doesn’t have roads. And it appears there is no space to widen them too, if I look at the major roads today. There are no road dividers, and no one basically understands what the yellow line is for. The traffic police is non existent for all purposes. If there are any, people just don’t care about them. I still remember an incident, when a guy jumped a red light, holding a cell phone to his ears with one hand, and when the policeman tried to stop him, left the bike handle, pointed with other hand shouting “dikhta nahin kya phone kar raha hoon“, and sped away.
Now the Question is , why doesn’t Hyderabad have as many accidents as Delhi. One is volume – Delhi is much much larger, and has more than five times the Vehicles as compared to Hyderabad. The other reason I see is, that the traffic is too slow here to cause any serious fatal accidents. Crashes do happen, but since they are a very slow speed nothing major happens. There are no road here, that you can drive at even 20-30 kmph. I might be wrong. But this will end up as hell soon. The “Hyderabad mein aisa-ich hota” attitude makes matter worse.
If this city has to reach its potential, things have to change. Or else it would end up another failed city.The attitude towards driving here enrages me no limits.
And then people suggest me to buy a car here. No! Thank you sir. If I cant control this madness, then at least I am not going to become a part of it.