In recent times at least, it was never a pleasure driving in Chennai. We had mistakenly thought that it couldn't be worse. Of late, the crazy traffic drives you mad and much to our surprise, things have become worse, thanks to the faulty traffic regulations.

Some time back, one-way regulations were imposed on and around the TTK Road and the CP Ramaswamy Road. Finding that it had generated total chaotic disorder, it was withdrawn.



The latest is the introduction of one-way in Burkit Road and parts of Venkatnarayana Road. This is the second traffic modification in T Nagar after the Usman Road fly-over was opened on Thursday. The fly-over was ill conceived and ill-planned. The only use, if you can use that word is that it tries to help you cross the Panagal Park stretch on the Usman Road. The Pinjala Subramaniam Road, the Nageswara rao Road, the Prakasam road and more importantly the Doraisamy road are beyond the reach of the users of the fly-over.

The main traffic bottle necks of traffic in that area are caused by the flow from Nageswara rao Road and North Usman Road to Doraisamy Road and vice versa. The fly over has hardly addressed this problem. Buses of only five routes can use the fly over. All others have to follow the erstwhile routes.

The latest one-way restrictions cannot help anyone. This will only add to the misery of the road users who are yet to recover from the one-way restrictions at the Nandanam area.

It's time our traffic managers realized that managing a growing Metro's traffic is much more than regulating it. It involves ensuring safe and efficient movement of people and goods. In several cities, they use sensors to measure traffic flows and automatic, interconnected guidance systems to manage traffic, especially in peak hours.What is needed is implementation of a few tenets of transport engineering, as part of urban planning.

Here, they undertake the traffic survey after the fly-over is opened. It's like drafting the blue-print after the building is constructed.