Impediment on the road

With much fanfare, the traffic police had put orange cones on the roads of the City with the hope that these would demarcate lanes and inculcate lane discipline among motorists.

Sadly, the drivers paid little attention to these cones; they bumped them to such an extent that they have either broken or bent, and lie on the roads as an impediment for many.

In fact, many Bangaloreans drive over them and the broken down cones actually pose a risk on the road. Metrolife speaks to a few Bangaloreans to find out whether they think these cones still serve any purpose.

Rushil, who drives on a regular basis, says that there is no point in retaining these rubber cones as they are useless and serve no purpose at all.

“I have seen people running over them and crossing over to the other lane. I feel concrete demarcations would be much better than these rubber cones. That way, people would be forced to follow the lane system. At present, the concrete demarcation that is there in Madiwala towards St John’s Hospital is a good way of making people follow the rules,” he explains.

Some Bangaloreans point out that the solar lights, which are used in other cities to demarcate lanes, can be helpful as well.

“Not only do they look good, but they also help motorists by clearly indicating the lane that they have to be in. They don’t get damaged when run over and are environment-friendly as well. The City administration should think about replacing the rubber cones with these solar lights in the long run,” says Reben, a student.

M A Saleem, the additional commissioner of police (traffic), points out that the cones will soon be replaced with new ones.

“We don’t want to replace them with anything else as they are very safe and do not cause any accidents. We will soon start putting new ones in place of the old, so that they are not scattered all over the road. Also, we don’t want to build concrete dividers as it will be difficult to construct them on narrow roads and streets. They will block the entire road. We urge the motorists to obey  lane-driving rules,” he says.

Many also point out that rubber cones have actually gone missing in many areas. “Earlier, we used to see them lying around in a damaged condition. But now, there is no trace of those cones anywhere. I feel the roads are safer without them, though. They are really dangerous at night. Once, the autorickshaw I was travelling in skidded over a cone that was lying upside down on the main road. As motorists, we look at the roads — not at things scattered across them. These cones should either be done away with or changed,” says Rishabh, an IT executive.

Despite several awareness drives by the City administration, there are many who still break the rules and jump lanes, thus damaging the cones.

“I have seen autorickshaw drivers racing down the road, driving over and breaking the cones. It’s especially risky for two-wheelers — if we accidentally hit a broken cone, the bike can skid and fall. It is dangerous,” sums up Rishabh.