The volume of traffic is only increasing with each passing day. The number of vehicles clogging roads continues to be huge. Amid this, the problem of traffic jams simply refuses to go away despite some efforts to address it. The situation on the traffic front remains nightmarish. Most of the time, the roads witness serpentine queues of stranded vehicles and people are left wandering in their vehicles which is agonizing.
The popular market and tourist places having the highest footfall are badly affected in terms of choking roads.
Underling that the administration was alive to the problem, the Chief Secretary of J&K had rightly underlined the need for scientific study of all the bottlenecks and addressing them sans delay. He asked officers concerned to identify places for parking of vehicles at all the busy locations. There is need proper application of scientific knowledge in erecting barriers and diversions. As has been underscored precisely by the Chief Secretary, the civilized societies have better solutions for their problems and that “our management of traffic should reflect our civility.” There is need for short, mid and long term solutions for the traffic woes.
Measures to reduce traffic speed are considered essential to reducing casualties on the road. Globally speed cameras are increasingly helping to reduce traffic speeds and as a consequence casualties. There is a need for an expansion in the use of cameras. Also health professionals need to be engaged in an informed debate about the effectiveness of cameras and also propagate awareness.
There is also a need to check over-speeding by the drivers and ensure strict compliance to the fixed speed limits. The chief secretary has also rightly directed the concerned to conduct checking of vehicles in a regulated manner without causing disruption to the smooth traffic movement on highway. Police checking and nakas in haphazard manner prove bad in overall traffic scenario. The enforcement agencies have been asked to submit the factual reports of each checking drive with the higher authorities for ensuring suitable penal action against the delinquents. This is a right step and efforts must be taken to ensure transparency in this account. Previously also, the chief secretary has rightly ordered the wearing of body cameras by the concerned officials, besides ensuring installation of traffic cameras on all traffic interceptors.
There is need for using modern tools and technology for manning the roads and ensuring smooth flow of traffic.