Page 13 - TT March 2025 for digital
P. 13

UPDATE



                IN CONVERSATION


                The Game called: Red light, Green light!

                “The citizens of Mangaluru are quite disciplined in following traffic
                rules including maintaining parking sense and wearing helmets”,

                says K Ravishankar, DCP, Mangaluru
                     elcome to Mangaluru, a city   He puts forward the challenge   accidents involve pedestrians or
                     distinguished for its grand   of manual traffic control at some   two wheelers.”
                Wpanoramic spectacular            junctions, where officers battle   He complains that pedestrians
                which is now on the cusp of       the scorching sun to manage the   in their hurry, often cross roads at
                being a smart city. Mangaluru’s   tides of vehicles. The plea for well-  wrong spots, leaving drivers with
                street carry more than just       engineered junctions are loud and   no time to react. The solution?
                vehicles, but is a bustling heart   clear and the request has been   Medians on dividers to restrict
                for dreams and aspirations of its   put forth to the National Highway   pedestrian movement and rumble
                people. But like every thriving city,   Authority .                strips to alert drivers to upcoming
                it has its own challenges.         Says Ravishankar, “The          junctions. Other suggestions
                  The DCP has offered a proposal   number of accidents on the      by the DCP include more visible
                for automatic and synchronized    road continues to rise with      road markings, speed breakers,
                signals at traffic laden junctions   3-4 accidents being reported   signboards and solar blinkers to
                like Jyothi and Nanthoor. Upon    daily. The alarming part is that   guide vehicles safely.
                the approval of which there shall   a staggering 80% of these        He adds on by saying, “Two-
                be a smooth flow of vehicles                                       wheeler riders though vigilant in
                where drivers no longer have to                                    wearing helmets, often ignore
                fumble to guess the timing of                                      securing the straps or use non-ISI
                traffic lights. Ravishankar says,                                  marked helmets bearing the severe
                “Although the integration of                                       injuries or even fatalities. The call
                artificial intelligence and high-   Mangaluru is more than         for stricter enforcement of safety
                resolution cameras is still in      just its roads and traffic.    measures is louder, as helmets
                the pipeline, once the system       It’s the people who            are the first line of defence on
                goes live, it will revolutionize    fill its streets with life     Mangaluru’s busy streets.”
                traffic enforcement. These          and purpose. After all,          Parking violations are a rare
                silent sentinels will keep an eye   a city’s progress isn’t        sight in Mangaluru as there are
                on every vehicle, issue fines       just measured by how           dedicated parking lots built at
                automatically for every violation   fast its traffic moves,        key locations like bus stands and
                by directly communicating with                                     railway stations. However, during
                the National Informatics Centre     but how safely and             weekends, street festivals and
                (NIC) and instantly alert the       smoothly do its people         any major events, the city faces a
                vehicle owners.”                    get back home!                 massive reserved parking crunch.

                Road of Challenges                  – Rashmi R D                     According to Ravishankar, the
                                                                                   people of Mangaluru have always
                  According to the DCP, the                                        been disciplined when it comes
                streets of Mangaluru tells a tale of                               to following traffic rules. But I
                both progress and struggle. The                                    urge everyone to be proactive.
                traffic control department is not                                  In case of any accidents, one has
                blind to challenges like narrow                                    to call 112 because this call not
                lanes, lack of bus bays and the                                    only summons the police but will
                constant dance of construction                                     also dispatch an ambulance to the
                projects from various departments.                                 scene for saving precious lives.


                                                                             www.trafficinfratech.com / March 2025 / TRAFFICINFRATECH  13
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