Jammu has experienced a fast growth of population and increasing rate of urbanization process. The failure of public transport system has led to phenomenal increase in number of private transporters and also the vehicles. The traffic volume rises to alarming heights on major roads of the city. Vehicular congestion is increasing day by day making the situation more complex.
One of major and challenging issue faced in all the upcoming colonies/ markets in every city or town is ‘Traffic Management’ and to meet this, civic authorities and the police need to be more aware and vigilant. It is of equally important than providing civic amenities and security to citizens.
The major problem of traffic management in the cities erupts due to the existence of multiple agencies or departments who work in isolation. The municipal corporations are responsible for road maintenance, the Urban Development authorities are responsible for road development, the Traffic Police is responsible for traffic regulation and enforcement, etc. The functioning of these agencies is not properly coordinated as all these agencies are doing their jobs independently and thus conclusive and inclusive actions are not possible. Better Traffic management can be achieved by focusing on the co-ordination of all the agencies having different roles in this aspect. The pervasive indiscipline among road users is largely attributed to frustration due to traffic congestion. Most of the road users are not aware of the traffic rules and regulations. There is need to evolve proper mechanism in Transport department as well as in Traffic Police to educate the road users about the traffic rules and regulations at regular intervals throughout the year instead of only during the periods when Traffic weeks are organized. Greater emphasis on educating road-users is a must by explaining them about the traffic rules and regulations through different media like press, posters, pamphlets, slides in theatres, banners etc. If possible, the road users should be educated about the traffic rules and regulations by conducting awareness camps in which safety of road users should be taught. Lack of adequate training and professional approach amongst the traffic policemen are also one of the reasons for poor enforcement. Traffic police personnel should be equipped with modern enforcement devices and trained in proper way to manage the traffic efficiently. Oftenly there are complaints from the road users about misbehavior of traffic police. Hence, there is a need to educate the traffic police personnel about human values, morals and respect to elderly persons etc., which they must follow during discharge of their duties. Many a times it has been observed that police officials who are trained and have undergone Traffic courses are not posted in Traffic department and their services are not utilized.
Another big hindrance is the limited road space available, which is further reduced due to on-street parking and stoppages. This has resulted in congestions and narrowing the road space in commercial areas of the cities and moreover, it is difficult to differentiate commercial areas with residential areas in the cities particularly in the upcoming localities.
Habitual and repeated offenders should be identified and panelized heavily.
Now, coming to our own city of temples i.e. Jammu, it has been observed that in most of the localities particularly the upcoming localities, generally the new commercial establishment are coming up without any parking space. Many eateries, repair shops etc have mushroomed in an unplanned way in such areas leading to chaos mainly at the peak hours. The vehicles are parked in the midst of the road hindering the smooth flow of the traffic and thereby causing inconvenience to other commuters. Moreover, some shopkeeper extend their steps or ‘thadas’ in such a fashion so as to accommodate their displays and also store the goods leading to contraction of the usable area of the roads. To name a few such upcoming localities, it shall be in place to mention Channi Himmat, Trikuta Nagar, Marble Market, Canal Road, Talab Tillo, Janipur etc. Regarding this problem affecting the common man, this News paper had earlier also carried news item / editorial in its editions, but it has been observed with dismay that no appropriate measures seem to have been taken on ground. The above strategic Traffic Management options may be adopted by City police/ Traffic Police and Civic agencies to achieve traffic decongestions. While some recommendations
