The chaos on the Hyderabadi roads
Ramesh Loganathan | 30 July 2009, 2:34pm
Ever wonder why our chaotic traffic doesnt create (thankfully!) as many accidents as one would expect? With the quintessential Hyderabadi always wondering why most roads in hyderabad are split into two parallel roads (er.. the median forcing 4 independant directions of traffic- two on either side of the median). The aventerous motorcyclists always cursing not having enough clearance ground in the bikes to scale most of the unnecessary concrete that is a failed attempt to seperate the two sides of the roads. And, the now-made-popular-by-nagesh-kukunoor 'raise the hand, look the other way and just cross the road' not working as effectively on raods with 10 lanes as it did in the erstwhile 2 lane roads. Very healthy huge Buffaloes peacefully co-inhabiting the roads used by the globe-trotting techies in Madhapur. Cops constantly succeeding in creating just that-absolutely-misfiiting solution to ease traffic congestions. While other cops vacantly stare at the gross traffic violations happening day-in-day-out right in fornt of their eyes at the traffic intersection he is manning. And then there is the non-hyderabadi wondering why the city suddenly finds the DL or UP registration to be a problem after completely ignoring it for the past 18 months, whilst he was led to believe that the number plate is perfectly valid and as he no longer lives in Delhi doesnt even need to pay the road taxes. Amidst all this, we have the absolute chaos that all of us collectively, the buffaloes included, create on our ever widening roads. And still how often do we see fender-benders?
In my view not nearly as much as one woruld expect. Why so? Like I tell my amnesia-ridden non-resident friends when they complain about the traffic, that it is acyually easier to drive it here because of the amazing protocol that exists on our roads. Simple- I watch the 60 degrees in front of me. And everyone around me and slightly behind my vehicle's front side, take care of the remaining 240 degrees around me! unlike the apparently developed world where I am responsible for all 360 degrees (nearly) including the dreaded blond spots! Makes sense right? So I can cut across suddenly in my bike or car, causing a dozen vehicles to screeach their brakes. And most often, get away with nothing other than a loud scream (laced with choice multi-lingual hyderabadi expletives)
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