Design roads for convenience to curtail wrong-side driving: Experts

GURUGRAM: It would have been easier to stop wrong-side driving in the city if authorities had stuck to the mobility plan, conducted awareness drives and stepped up enforcement of traffic rules, say experts.
According to them, authorities should have kept commuters’ convenience and their tendency to take shorter routes in mind while planning U-turns and dividers.

“If you are given the option of driving 100m to reach your destination with some risks and taking another route of 5km that involves lesser risks, you will choose the shorter route,” said Navdeep Asija, a road safety and sustainable transport specialist who is an adviser at the Punjab and Haryana high court.

Over the past two weeks, TOI has reported on spots in the city where wrong-side driving is rampant and poses a threat to lives of residents.

Asija said infrastructure development in Gurugram had been carried out at a rapid pace, without adhering to the mobility plan. “A majority of the people killed in road accidents are pedestrians and cyclists, the ones overlooked during infrastructure planning,” he said.

In the ‘integrated mobility plan’ for the Manesar-Gurugram urban complex, formulated by the department of town and country planning (DTCP) in 2010, road infrastructure development was supposed to happen uniformly in the city. However, according to Asija, infrastructure development has been skewed, with focus on roads such as Golf Course Road.

Asija recommended creation of a regulatory body to ensure that infrastructure would be developed as per the plan. He added the response to accidents or violations was short-lived and not enough to prompt authorities to come up with long-term solutions.

Dr Ravinder, director at Central Road Research Institute (CRRI), said people sometimes drive on the wrong side as they are confused, which could be managed by placing signage and ensuring a “geometric road design” (where roads follow the direction the commuter is headed). He added that road safety audits should be carried out to help introduce safety measures at the infrastructure level. “Additionally, the road user’s behaviour needs to be kept in mind while building roads and placing signage,” he said.

Ashish Sharma, programme manager at Haryana Vision Zero, a campaign started by the state government along with private partners to bring down road accident fatalities, said enforcement alone won’t do the trick, but didn’t undermine it either. “We also need to re-evaluate cuts and junctions, red light-free zones, and extend U-turns keeping in mind daily end-users. People will try to take the wrong route sooner or later, if the route gets longer,” he said.

Apart from this, experts said continuous enforcement of traffic rules was necessary. “Two days ago, I saw a man inside an underpass riding a scooter on the wrong side without a helmet. He had no worries. People are not aware of the kind of risks they take when they decide to drive on the wrong side,” said Sharma.

Experts also said complex infrastructure, such as underpasses and flyovers were being added as solutions for traffic congestion. “The residents of Gurugram have to stop celebrating every new flyover or underpass. Instead, they should ask if it is really needed,” warned Asija.