Need for speed
In India, if you ever get on the road to go from point A to point B, you will notice that, on average, we operate at speeds well under 40kmph (25mph). And this assumes we are actually moving, not stuck in a traffic jam.
For example, a 3km trip by car from my house to a nearby pedestrian walking park takes roughly 10 minutes. This is during off peak hours in a medium sized city with no traffic jams. That works out to about 18kmph.
I have been thinking about some ways to speed up our road transport.
But first, Why?
Faster traffic leads to more people to people contact - because we are less leery of getting on the road if we can hope to get somewhere in a reasonable amount of time - and therefore more trade and consequently, more GDP.
Indian Problems, Indian Solutions
Of course, India has its own unique set of circumstances so we can't expect to copy solutions that have worked in other countries.
E.g., you might want to enforce traffic rules more rigorously but the reality on the ground is that it is impossibly dangerous to have a high speed chase on India roads to haul in a rule breaker.
So, we need Indian solutions to Indian problems.
Wrong way made right of way
Indians simply love going wrong way to save half a minute. Let's just accept this reality and introduce bidirectional service roads attached to every road with periodic cuts throughs to allow traffic to merge or exit.
Rush hour...but not for Cows
Require cows and buffalos to have RFID tags identifying the owner. If livestock is found wandering the streets during rush hour, their owner gets dinged. Heck, link livestock to Aadhar since everything else is linked to it any way.
Ask pedestrians to walk against traffic
This is such a simple fix that I'm pretty sure there is a reason why it hasn't yet been implemented. Tell pedestrians to walk against traffic instead of walking with it.
Since pedestrians and the approaching traffic can both see each other, this change will help in two ways:
- It is inherently safer for both parties
- There will be less need to sound those extra loud horns most vehicles today seem to have
Dear urban planners, you are welcome to steal these ideas. Just write me a check from the millions city governments pay you for your project proposals.