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A smooth ride to road safety
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If the engineering traffic regulation techniques are implemented, then city roads will be safer and be rid of the chaos.
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HOW MANY times have you, one not-so-fine morning, stepped out to find your road all dug up. You negotiate the small mountains and craters for a week or two, taking care not to break a bone or tear a ligament, and lo! one fine day the road is relaid, albeit with a few telling lumps. But nor for long. It's déjà vu time again when, a couple of months later, one not-so-fine morning...
Though new roads are laid, some government department or the other invariably decides to dig them up, making driving a nightmare for motorists. Such a scenario calls for engineering traffic regulation techniques, which ensure road users safety and obviate nasty surprises. They lay great emphasis on the design of road and enforcement of traffic rules by police. Such techniques also ensure that drivers adhere to the speed limit. Traffic control devices such as signals and signs rely on compliance to be effective, while elements such as landscaping do not force a change in the driver's behaviour but provide the visual clues that encourage him/her to drive cautiously. Traffic calming techniques are helpful in the following ways:
To reduce road accidents.
To check vehicular speed without police assistance.
To discourage parking at locations which may lead to accidents (near junctions).
To encourage and promote healthy travel modes — walking or cycling.
More space for children to play.
Improved scenic streetscape, particularly in residential streets.
Neighbourhood revitalisation and stability.
Help to check crime, particularly hit-and-runs and chain snatching in residential areas.
If such techniques are adopted, then the city could be free from fatal road accidents. In reality, traffic police adopt few traffic calming techniques that should be enforced after analysing the vehicle type, density of traffic, road width, and so on.
The most commonly used traffic calming engineering techniques are:
Traffic circles and roundabouts
Speed bumps and speed tables
Partial street closures
Diverters and median barriers
Curb extensions or bulb-outs
Chicanes or raised intersections
Choke points
Textured pavements
Different traffic calming techniques can be implemented for residential and commercial roads and highways, which will also improve the landscape appearance. It is the right time to initiate such steps as the City is witnessing rapid development. City planners should take into consideration the future demand for roads and adopt new ways of tackling and controlling accidents where existing calming techniques are not sufficient. It will create a feeling of a secure neighbourhood, more space for cyclists, and pedestrians. Thus, the city can become a model for other cities in the country to emulate.
In areas with less traffic, particularly residential areas, such techniques are suitable. If the sidewalks are widened, it will restrict the flow of vehicles to a narrow section of a road in residential areas. It can also be initiated to restrict the parking of vehicles on roads with medium traffic. The sidewalk extension discourages commuters from parking their vehicles on these roads, help minimise police intervention, and increase the sense of responsibility among road users.
Curb extensions, also known as bulb-outs or neckdowns, are an effective way to prevent motorists from parking at or very close to a junction. They encourage motorists to drive slowly at intersections. Care should be taken while designing this technique in areas with movement of heavy vehicles.
However, the most interesting is the use of chicanes in residential areas, which diverts the straight path of travel to a series of turns.
Besides, planting of small trees will narrow the streets to one lane at select points and force road users to slow down.
Traffic calming techniques have immense potential in checking crimes such as highway robbery and vehicle thefts by reducing connectivity of roads. In such connecting roads, the secondary roads must be engineered with these calming techniques.
Thus, the City can boast of safe and secure roads, if such techniques are implemented fully.
O.M. MURALI
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Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Madurai
Thiruvananthapuram
Visakhapatnam
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