Unlock Bangalore...

Excellent Initiative by Times of India. I wrote about the growing chaos on the Bangalore roads sometime back on this blog. In fact in any social circle the safest topics to talk about are the traffic and the road conditions in the city. But what are we doing to control it ? This initiative by the TOI is all about getting awareness in the people of Bangalore, making them more civilized, more responsible. The main problem here is the drivers and Cab walahs who doesn't seem to give an ear to all these sort of problems, they break the rules / laws so confidently, just because the cab belongs to some corporator / or they know a local politician.

Well its time that we the responsible Bangaloreans take the initiative and report any such incident, I know the number given on the cabs where it say " In case the driver is driving rash please call...." number never works, its always out of order, so here is the solution, take down the registration number and report the incident on the e-mail address:

unlock.bangalore@timesgroup.com

Let us tell them that they are being watched continuously, even if the traffic cop is not there! Just reporting is not enough, some more things are required:

1) Car pools
2) Encourage children to use the school bus
3) If you are traveling in the cab, ask the driver to follow the rules, or don't use it
4) avoid driving under the influence of alcohol
5) If you are driving, give more respect to the pedestrians.

Happy Driving!

Other Posts on Traffic:
Cab Manace
Bangalore Traffic.....

Song Today: Khaali haanth Shaam aayi hai....

Cab Menace

Recently I have been observing a new breed of drivers quite closely, the cab drivers. Some of their traits are:

1) Extremely ill mannered
2) They don't know the use of brakes in their cabs
3) Doesn't have any concern for the pedestrians
4) 90% of the time are on their mobiles while driving
5) Would always honk on a "red light"
6) Have a very strong union, so doesn't matter whose fault it is, its always the non cab end who has to pay
7) A lot of them doesn't know how to talk to the fairer sex
8) will always stop on the left side of the red light even if they have to take a right turn

These are only some to list, I am sure that the list is endless. Yesterday I went for running as usual and I was nearly killed by a speeding cab, and all I see is a hand that comes out of it... in a gesture of sorry. What the heck, the Bangalore roads are becoming increasingly unsafe for the people walking / running and yes you are right the credit goes to all these cab drivers. Earlier I used to see a number written on all the cabs "if found driving rash please call" but lately none of the cabs have it. I know that nothing would happen even if I give them a call, but then too there was a hope... but now even that doesn't seems to be there. If you try going to the police station, the situation might just become worse, I have been told by a cop that you give money to this cab wala or I am going to frame you in a false charge, all these cab owners send their respective share of money to the Police station every month, this is their hafta for breaking the law.

The other day I was standing at a red light, the light was still red but the traffic at the other end stopped, the cars started moving, I decided not to break the rule and kept standing, soon a cab came next to me and started abusing me, do we need to get abused for following a rule ?

A number of times I have experienced during running that these cab walas make fun out of you, during one such incident one of the cab walas intentionally came very close to me so that I jump off the footpath.... and then I hear is a burst of laughter.

If any of you know the helpline for traffic police in Bangalore please drop a comment here, now I have decided, even if nothing changes then too I am going to complain and get a number generated, someday something might happen. But all these software companies hiring these cabs should seriously bring some rule in place.

Song Today: Turn Turn Turn by Byrds