Public have role to play :

Minimising traffic jams

by Nilma DOLE

We seem to spend most of our lives on the road. Be it going to work or just trying to make it to a date, we spend our lives sitting in our vehicles or listening to the 'baila' booming in the bus.

The Ayurveda Junction at Rajagiriya where traffic signals were installed recently Pic : Nilma Dole

The traffic problem affects everyone. Meet anyone and they make excuses for not making it to a place on time because of traffic. However, why haven't we thought about how we cause most of the traffic problems by buying that ultimate dream car and using up considerable road space?

Why can't we think of the pollution we're causing or the carbon emissions that occur when we use a vehicle that destroys the environment? Why can't we stop joy-riding on a Sunday night, risking people's lives on the road? Why can't we use the pavement instead of nearly killing ourselves by walking on the road?

According to the official classification, the existing road network consists of about 11,700km of national highways classed into Class A and Class B roads that are the highest categories in Sri Lanka's road hierarchy.

There are 15,500km of provincial roads, belonging to Classes C, D and E; 65,000km of local authority roads; and 24,000km of roads owned or controlled by Irrigation, Wildlife and other authorities.

"We have formulated a National Road Master Plan which is to be used as a guide from 2007 until 2017 to offer a good plan for road development," said Deputy Director of Planning at the Road Development Authority (RDA), Namali Siyambalapitiya.

She said, "We have a planning committee with expertise from the government including our RDA officials and those from the Ministry of Highways and Road Development who developed this policy to make road building better."

Siyambalapitiya said, "The most important aspect of traffic is discipline on the road. The majority of accidents take place because nobody follows the traffic rules".

If everyone paid attention and were mindful of the others using the road, then accidents won't happen.

"The problem is when everyone wants to go to work on time, resulting in an accident due to carelessness,".

On the positive side, Sri Lanka is ahead of other countries in terms of road km (km/km2 land) per square km where the Comparative Transport Network Indicator is 1.66 ahead of countries like India (0.2) and Pakistan (0.32).

To minimise traffic congestion, there have been requests to change the time of work for some organisations.

"We have requested companies and institutions to consider giving their staff earlier working hours so that they cannot only minimise traffic problems, but can go home early", said Siyambalapitiya. A special expressway is also being formulated to cover 600km of the country and President Mahinda Rajapaksa laid the foundation stone for the first of these, the Southern Expressway.

"The expressway gives easy access to major towns without traffic problems or hassles. For example, a person who wants to go to the Katunayake Airport from Matara doesn't need to come to Colombo, but can take the Southern Expressway to go there in double quick time", said Siyambalapitiya.

Likewise, to visit Trincomalee, one doesn't have to go all the way to Kandy; the expressway can bypass major towns that cause traffic congestion to get you to your destination quickly and stress-free.

"My advice to road users is respect everyone; be disciplined and try to find alternatives," said Siyambalapitiya.

Fuel costs money and traffic causes road rage so try to take a bus at a relatively convenient time so that you can go to work early and have less psychological problems when you do so.

"The City Liner service is an initiative by the government and the National Transport Commission to get people to use public transport.

“Such air-conditioned bus services will offer good facilities like Internet access and food options to get people back on the bus," commented Siyambalapitiya.

Director of the Planning Section of the RDA, H.M.K.G. Bandara said, "Many blame the government for road traffic, problems and the inadequate roads to sustain the present traffic but they don't take simple steps to prevent it."

For example, the Director said, when it rains, the water drainage system of the road is inefficient because residents block road drains by building huge 10-foot walls.

"Likewise, many tend to forget the road reservation line and encroach land just to give them more property in their deeds", the Director said.

By trying to acquire property, by being greedy for space and by not obeying traffic rules, we are ultimately putting ourselves at risk on the road. To prevent all these, start being a good road user today!