The Hindu Business Line : Traffic discipline

One of the reasons for traffic woes is behavioural. When one cheats (say, jumps the lane or the “line”) to gain advantage over others, and if others follow, there is chaos.

My experience with “Suraksha Sanchar” programme, under the aegis of Bangalore Agenda Task Force, has convinced me that inculcating the traffic sense during the formative years of schooling and perhaps, college gives better results. One can take to the fundamental question, “Do we need to commute to communicate”, meaning, do we need to travel to work. A working answer to the question is, perhaps, decades away. Until such time, we need a pragmatic mix of behavioural training and structural solutions, in that order.

It is in the “enlightened self-interest” (and not just self-interest) that companies should pitch in to build social infrastructure by training the people in traffic discipline.

As stressed employees takes a longer time to get to productive mode, efforts and resources spent on improving traffic becomes an investment by the companies towards better productivity.

Investment in education makes economic sense, as the results are available for generations. Mr Alber Brunner, the former Chief of Bangalore International Airport, had remarked that the problem of Bangalore traffic can be solved without much spending on structural measures, if people are trained in traffic discipline. This is indeed true.

N. R. Govinda Sharma Mysore

More Stories on : Letters | Roadways

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Hope for audacity

Tasks ahead for the new President

At the end of Bush’s presidency

Taliban and Pakistani double-speak

NBFCs’ tale of woes

Traffic discipline

Making money from poverty