The forgotten colors - Red, Yellow, Green

          I remember when I was a kid my teacher had told me during a class on road safety that Red means stop, Orange means get ready and Green means now you can proceed. However, looks like this simple piece of information is no more a relevant of part of our ever improving ( as they claim) system. I am forced to believe this because of the indifference shown by the people towards the traffic signals. I travel for about an hour (one way), to my office and get to see a lot of traffic junctions. However, not once have I seen the traffic lights being respected fully. At some traffic islands, the red light takes a different meaning all together, as it hopelessly tries to signal as stop and the motorists just bother to slow down a bit just to ensure that they can slam the brakes if a cop pops out around the corner.

          I know this traffic junction, where every day the traffic lights keep blinking and motorists keep moving at their own will. In fact, someone who tries to adhere to the traffic signal is often rebuked by other motorists. The traffic police is often blamed of not managing the traffic in Bangalore. However, I wonder if it is really possible to manage the vehicles if no soul is ready to follow any rule. It is like asking the doctor to treat cancer, when you cannot give up smoking.

         

          Can making stricter rules solve the problem? Maybe yes, but personally I feel that more the rules, more will the people who will try to break them or find some loop hole to break the rule. What is needed is a system where people realize this problem and understand that some rules are for their own benefit. In in fact, I would not even call the traffic lights a rule or law, it is just a discipline which shows that "You" are concerned for the well being of other motorists who are using the road. It is probably very easy for a rash driver to jump a signal and he might do it very successfully because of his driving abilities, but there might be others who might try to either mimic their actions or be a victim because he just followed the traffic signal without bothering much ( after all that is why they are there?). Life is precious and losing it because of something as trivial crossing a traffic island is indeed very unfortunate.

If you are reading this and belong to the category of people I have mentioned above, please spare a moment and give it a thought.