Dysfunctional traffic signals and lack of visibility of the signals in several important road intersections in the city, especially during the peak hours, have been throwing traffic out of gear.
Vehicles entering the city pass through these intersections every day and due to the non-functioning signals, their movement gets stuck, resulting in long traffic snarls.
Though the traffic signal at Nellithope junction has remained non-functional for a few months now, it has failed to draw the attention of the authorities concerned. With vehicles coming from Cuddalore, Indira Gandhi Square and Maraimalai Adigal Salai, it is an extremely busy intersection.
The problem is severe at the intersection during the peak hours as motorists from all directions try to cross the junction at the same time. For the pedestrians it is very difficult to cross the roads due to heavy movement of traffic. Automatic signals at important junctions in the city at Sivaji Square, Maduvapet and Kokku Park on the East Coast Road have not been functioning fully and traffic policemen were manning the junctions manually.
According to S. Baranidarane, an industrialist, “most of the signals are not maintained properly. At some points, signals had been installed and abandoned. A case in point is the signal installed at the intersection of Kamaraj Salai and Lenin Street in Saram. The automatic traffic signal has been on the blink for over a year. As a result, motorists are stranded at the junction during rush-hour.”
According to P. Devanathan of People’s Pulse, a civil society organisation, “One of the main problems of the present signals is that they are not properly visible to the motorists. The countdown timers installed at most of the automatic signals have slowly stopped working. Police personnel operate them manually during the visit of senior police officers and VIPs. These timers were working fine but slowly technical glitches arose, and they stopped working.”
According to a police official, “The maintenance of the signals has become an issue due to delay in payment to the contractor. The department has been facing funds crunch and the government is yet to take a decision on who should maintain the signals. The list of non-functioning signals have been identified and they will be rectified soon.”
“The traffic police should replace the existing signals with adaptive signals that can detect traffic flow in real time and adjust the red or green lights accordingly. This will put an end to the long wait at a red light when there’s little or no traffic in other lanes and ensure smooth flow of traffic,” said an urban planner.