Noida road mishaps: Wrong is right to avoid a detour

NOIDA: The tendency to drive on the wrong side of the road seems to be a common trait in drivers across age groups. Continuing with our campaign against wrong-side driving, TOI did a reality check at three spots where the violation is most visible.
Balak Nath cut

At the Balak Nath intersection, residents travelling from neighbouring Sarfabad village don’t want to travel around 500 metres ahead and take a U-turn to get inside the village. They would disrupt the traffic approaching them from Sector 72 on the main road and then take a short cut towards the village.

During a 15-minute wait, one could see at least 20 vehicles, including cars, bikes, tractors, trolleys and auto rickshaws entering the village through the cut or the service road.



“No one wants to take the U-turn. The village is a few metres away from the intersection. So, why should we drive all the way to take the U-turn? It becomes an extra kilometre ride for us,” said a motorist.

The violators were middle-aged men, youngsters, auto drivers.

When a college student Sanjeev was asked about the reason for the regularity of the violation, he said that most people do it whenever there is no traffic cop on the ground. “The traffic police officers are present at times, but commuters tend to violate even if they are present. At times, commuters wait for the officers to look the other way,” he said.

Traffic inspector Layak Singh said that the cut towards Sarfabad should be closed so that commuters can enter the service road only after using the U-turn. However, that proposal is still awaiting a nod from the estimate committee of the Noida Authority and an approval from the CEO before tenders can be issued.

Ram Aasre, project engineer (work circle 6), said work would start within three months.

Parthala roundabout

At the Parthala roundabout, located about three kilometres ahead of the Balak Nath intersection, the commuters travelling towards the housing societies and offices in Sector 122 disrupt traffic nonchalantly. On Wednesday, we found SUVs, tractors, autos, bikes violating the traffic rule.

Here too, commuters don’t want to take the U-turn located about 500 metres ahead that would take them inside the sector.

Ravinder, an employee working at a private laboratory in the sector, said that “since people are in a hurry, they want to save time by not using the U-turn”.

However, Mohammed Murtaza, who was caught driving on the wrong side, blamed cops for the violation. “They should stop people from violating traffic rules but at times, they deliberately leave the violators after accepting bribe. Even if one person wants to follow rules, there are many others who just want to drive on the wrong side,” he said.

Char Murti roundabout

At the Charmurti roundabout or the Kisan Chowk located a few kilometres ahead, engineers, the private company employees, students and residents from all age groups can be seen driving on the wrong side to reach the Gaur City societies.

All the commuters have the same excuse and do not want to drive even half a kilometre more to reach the U-turn that would take them to the Gaur City societies.

Ravi Gautam, who works in a real estate company, bluntly said he was least bothered about the traffic rule violation.

Traffic inspector Layak Singh said that “the challan drive is continuing”. “But attimes, it leads to snarls and we are forced to stop the drive to ensure smooth traffic flow,” he added.