The latest TomTom traffic index has ranked Bengaluru as the worst traffic congested city in Asia. Though the name of the study sounds funny, this ain’t no laughing matter. It definitely does not feel so when I am sitting in traffic. Luckily the day I was stuck in the worst traffic that took me 2 hours to cover a distance of 5 km, I was in august company with my 4 year old and for some reason had a picnic basket in the car for dinner. The evening prime time show for us was then the city itself. Why does the city have so much traffic I wonder, is it that too many people have cars, is it that the roads are very narrow in general or is it that the traffic police aren’t dynamic studying real time traffic? In Hyderabad the busiest roads are sometimes swapped in direction to facilitate the flow of traffic but then the roads infrastructure in Hyderabad is probably better.
This smart city has a quite high average IQ for a city, something that I have keenly felt indeed, but how does Bengaluru deal with traffic jams, and what do they do when they are knocked into one? I wonder. In my case, I listen to music, spotify or the radio, try breathing exercises and recently have got the aroma stone from Muji, that induces a spa like sense in the car, aromas could vary between lavender and sweet orange depending on how stressful traffic may be! As a matter of preference I find driving very stressful, there was a time when the middle eastern women fought for the right to drive, and I truly wonder why, yet we Bengalureans may soon need to pass the bill for the “Right to empty roads”! I do sometimes, ditch the road and take the metro to wherever the metro may allow, for though walking is my favorite mode of transport, strolling perhaps it actually is, yet the lack of footpaths on most roads make it difficult at times to traverse the city.
What are better ways to make productive use of the time in traffic as one half of the brain drives on autopilot at the mind numbing speeds? As I make my traffic list am almost planning on storing some peanut butter and jam sandwiches in my car pantry, to keep hunger at bay through the hours and well the pun intended.
Vedasri Siddamsetty 