Ranjeet Singh Sambyal
In a classic instance of solution converting into a problem, the road dividers have become the mayhem. The road dividers built to ease and streamline the turbulent vehicular traffic,are either smashed by the erring road users or not properly constructed. Interestingly, these dividers add to the traffic jam and at some locations, as these are raised in appropriately, thus inciting the misfortunes.
Transport infrastructure is the lifeline of a nation, but alas it has intruded the biomes with detrimental effects on nature and brought about swarm of bracketed problems. Right from the dawn of civilization, roads have played vital role in the evolution of human society. The roads strengthen economic growth, mobility and delivery of services, which are indispensible for any nation or a state. The roads have gained significance with the development and turned out to be a boon for conveyance. However, in recent times the road accidents have increased, causing loss of life and property, the reasons being, ignorance on the part of drivers, failure of equipment and road’s condition. Many people lose their loved ones in these mishaps.
In Jammu, there has been an alarming increase in the road accidents, particularly the highway accidents, in the last few decades. Imperfectly constructed roads, broken dividers absence of parking space and street lights have become common problems of any cosmopolitan and Jammu city is no exception to this. All these have increased the frequency of roadblocks, accidents and inconveniences to emergency services.
With few exceptions, at most other places, particularly from New Plots to Janipur where the dividers have been installed to lessen the traffic problems, these have inevitably increased the traffic problems.The idea behind using the divider is to escape traffic jam, ensure safety and rationalize traffic, but the use of concrete blocks as a road divider, is an open invitation to mishap. The reason being improperly managed dividers, which are either damaged by the residents or roadside vendors for their convenience or using them as informal passage, thereby overlooking the safety issues. Due to negligence of drivers who smashed their vehicles with these dividers are still unmaintained and resulting in road accidents, which is again death-defying. Road dividers, meant for hassle-free traffic flow, have resulted in a large number of mishaps. The accidents which occurred because of road dividers have claimed the life of countless people in the past and if not handled, the trend will continue in future.
Jammu Municipality has witnessed a remarkable growth in the number of vehicles without a proportional increase of quality infrastructure. This has paved the way for traffic congestion on roads. As per the records of the J & K State Transport Corporation, more than 30,000 vehicles are being added annually. Moreover, the traffic density per kilometer is also increasing. The actions taken by the State Government including,fixing of delineators, road dividers, creation of diversions are aimed atcurbing the traffic movement. But, the city is inflicted with many issues of road safety, which irks the general public. The roads are over ridden with depressions and are damaged at different sites. The drivers and pedestrians have plethora of problems toconvey.On one hand, the unmanaged garbage and filth gives a shabby look to the roads, on the other hand, the poorly designed roads result in unavoidable traffic jams, making them accident prone. At several sites, the dividers are either broken severely or lack reflectors, which is unsafe, particularly in the late evenings. At night, the drivers in the absence of proper light or radium reflectors, hardly trace the dividers and thus culminate in smashing the damaged divider. In some parts of Jammu city, where the lanes are too narrow and the dividers are not laid uniformly, it becomes difficult to drive safely. While many roads are completely lacking the dividers, others only have them atparticular stretches.
The whole state of affairs calls for the active involvement of people, who can come-up with the area specific problems. There is a need of strategy- the road map and the courage to execute it.Only a pint-sized care can makes the misfortunes rare. It is rightly said, that planning is like a road map that leads you to your generations. The damaged or improperly constructed road dividers are leading to chaos among the commuters, which necessitates a proper planning. Either the dividersshould be removed or proper system be ensured for the safety of drivers and pedestrians especially during the late night.Depending on the availability of space, good quality plastic dividers with reflectors or glow signs must be installed or well-built concrete dividers be opted.
Safety is everyone’s duty and the essence of safety is to live hale and hearty. Traffic rules are lifesaving tools. As responsible citizens, people have a role to play in confirming the road safety, which can be achieved by humanizing and enlightening the road users. Ernest Greenwood said ‘Accidents, do not happen – they are caused’,likewise, Terri Guillemets said ‘Carelessness doesn’t bounce, it shatters’, so the moral of the story is to minimize the two so as to live blissfully and let others live happily.
(The author is a Lecturer in Environment Science, Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Dhandhok)
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