Woof! This Hyderabad Traffic

Three years back i.e in the year 2009, we got shifted from Mumbai to Nizam,s city Hyderabad, as my husband got transferred to this city. When the transfer order came, we all were very thrilled to move away from the city which never sleeps, thinking that we will lead a much comfortable life in Hyderabad.

For the same reason we searched for a house which was close by to our work place and my daughter’s school and as the lady luck was in our favor, we got the place suiting everyone’s need. First few days were fine when we were at home, but to my dismay when we came out on the roads of Ameerpet and Begumpet, we found inhuman traffic on the roads.

The first jolt I got when I caught an argument with an auto driver, as he was asking exorbitant money for a very short distance and I asked him to put meter on, he bluntly refused, which turned my head on and I walked to my destination, cursing the auto drivers and Hyderabad as a whole. For me it was very new because in Mumbai we never faced any problem with the auto drivers or Taxi drivers as everyone puts the meter on when the passengers get in.  This everyday’s tiff with the auto drivers made us buy a car immediately.

The second jolt came when we took the car out on the road, facing the Hyderabad traffic in real sense, by becoming a part of it. Our brand new car got a first scratch from a speeding bike brushing the left side of the car, as he overtook our car from the left side, while turning left on Greenlands Road near Paryatak Bhavan Begumpet. After many incidence like this, we have become very cautious driver and especially with the bikers. Most junction of Hyderabad you will find chaotic traffic without any rules and regulations with or without traffic police. I have seen a traffic police running after a motorbike as he jumped the signal; in the mean time many of them did the same as the signal was left unmanned, which usually doesn’t happen with Mumbai police, as the traffic police is very strong there. Drunken driving being a serious crime, Hyderabad have started with breath analyzer test on the drivers of the vehicle in the night time, but to my surprise they are leaving the culprit with the vehicle to be driven by them again by collecting small amount of fine from them. The police even stop their operation after 12 midnight but the people who go for a party or after office hours drinking session usually come on the roads after 12’ o clock, so according to me it is not serving the real purpose. The same operation in Mumbai is taken very seriously and which is going on there for several years. If a person gets caught by Mumbai police for drunken driving, his/ her driving license is immediately taken into the custody of police and depending on the severity, the person may lose the right of driving forever and the operation is active throughout the night as per the news in newspapers.

The third jolt came, when I wanted to cross the road from under the Somajiguda Flyover to other side of the road to go to Kalaniketan. To cross that narrow road of few meters breadth, I had to wait for around 15 minutes to look for the vehicles which are coming at little slow pace and when I dared to cross the road I had to raise my left hand to the vehicles for some mercy from the drivers. This is not the only point in Hyderabad where crossing the road by the pedestrians is nightmarish, you will find this situation everywhere in the twin cities, as there are no options for the pedestrians to use the road. Though you will find zebra crossing nicely drawn on the roads, for the pedestrians to cross the road but there are no signals to stop the flow of traffic going straight especially in the three lane junctions, this is not the case with Mumbai. In Mumbai you will find signals even in the highway, for stopping the fast moving traffic for a minute or two, so the walker can cross the road easily. Along with all these there are no footpaths on the road sides for the pedestrians to walk safely.

So it is my humble request to all the residents of Hyderabad, to abide the rules and regulations of traffic while driving on the roads, which will certainly reduce the traffic chaos in the city and above all it will reduce the number of road accidents, which has increased tremendously in recent days. I would also like to request Hyderabad traffic police to take care of the pedestrians too along with smooth flow of traffic on the roads, especially while crossing the roads.