At last, Jammu has got some new traffic points where lights have become operational, but most of the road users have no patience to wait for the change of signals. It looks jumping lights or violating rules and regulations is inherent with the people. Especially the youngsters who do not mind calling names at the traffic cop on duty. Is it some chivalry? The first ever signal that blinked was on 4th August, 2012 then onwards till today it is the story of traffic jams, chaos, confusion and hapless traffic cops staring at violators has become an everyday affair. Despite conducting several surveys before setting up the lights at 30 places around the city, most of them turning non-functional just weeks after installation, created more chaos and problems for the road users. The project from the beginning was caught in the technical drawbacks as no feasibility study was carried out. There were no control rooms, rotaries as per the flow of the traffic. Even no point-to-point sinchronisation of timings was carried out for the smooth traffic flow. The 60 points of Jammu were to be covered under the plan in two phases. In the first phase, signals were set up at 30 places including Satwari Chowk, Gangyal, Green Belt, Gole Market, Bikram Chowk, Jewel, Panama Chowk, Narwal, KC Chowk, Shakuntala Chowk, Rehari and Janipur besides other crossings of the city. The rest of the areas were to be covered under the second phase. The project, soon after becoming functional got surrounded by controversies for running a faulty procedure and unable to cater to the needs of the traffic regulatory. Undue favour by the government agencies also accounted for the unfair dealing of the system that was held at crossroads between the concerned agencies and the department. If the city has to have a disciplined traffic it is the people who have to be taught the right way of road use rather than making violations or jumping rules a daily affair. The traffic authorities should impose composite fines which should work as a deterrent for the violations, till then without impunity the violations will continue. And this is no chivalry even.
