In Noida’s office & mall hub, U-turns are a ‘waste of time’

NOIDA: Travelling on the wrong side is not unusual for commuters in Noida. On some roads, they are a bigger hazard than others. The arterial roads around Sector 18 are a prime example.
Mall-goers, youngsters and professionals across age groups violate the rule. In the fourth part of our campagin against driving on the wrong side, TOI examines the scene at Film City flyover and Maharaja Agrasen Marg where this practice of wrong-side driving is rampant as commuters avoid the longer detours thay have to take for U-turns.

Film City Flyover

Office-goers driving on the wrong side to enter Film City after exiting the flyover is a regular sight.

Though some commuters wait at the end of the flyover for the traffic coming from the Noida-Delhi Link road side to reduce, others don’t bother to wait and disrupt the flow of speeding cars and two-wheelers travelling towards Sector 18 or TGIP Mall just so that they can save a few minutes.

There is a U-turn around 300 metres ahead near the mall but commuters don’t “want to waste time” to reach there and give the excuse of the “jam” that they encounter at the U-turn towards the mall. “No one wants to take that U-turn. Film City is just a minute’s drive from the flyover,” said a commuter caught driving on the wrong side. Traffic police said though it is dangerous to drive towards Film City from the end of the flyover, commuters continue to violate the rule giving an excuse of lack of time to reach the different media houses and other offices here.

From TGIP parking to Sector 18, 30

The practice continues a little down the road in front of TGIP mall where commuters emerging from gate numbers 11, 10 and 9 of the mall, can be seen driving on the wrong side for nearly 700 metres to reach the main road to Sector 18. Sometimes, commuters who want to go to Sector 30 and further, drive on the wrong side till the Sector 37 road.

Too much danger, all because they don’t want to drive ahead and take the U-turn below Film City flyover, which means driving for another 1.2 km and then proceed to Sector 18 metro station.

“This occurs daily. Most vehicle users do not prefer to take the U-turn below the Film City flyover. This is especially true for the commuters emerging from the mall’s parking at night. They get challaned sometimes but continue to drive on the wrong side,” said a security guard deployed at one of the mall’s gates. Bharat Rathi, chowki incharge of TGIP chowki, which is located right opposite gate number 9 of the mall, told TOI that while they do not have powers to issue direct challans, they can send the details of such violators to the SP (City) office from where challans are issued against violators.

When contacted, Shamim Anwar, spokersperson at TGIP Mall, said, “There is a PCR standing near the mall. There are commuters who tend to drive on the wrong side and take a left from ahead which should be avoided. However, that area is not under us so we cannot do anything about it,” he said.