Chennai at the Crossroads

In 1999, I had written about the worsening traffic situation in Chennai with a sort of resigned amusement. But the situation has gone from amusing to alarming in eight short years. For example, I went out one evening to pick up milk, a quick trip that  ought not to have been an adventure. The milk kiosk was actually only a three minute walk away, on the other side of my local street (Egmore High Road). But although 7:00 pm should have been well past rush hour, the road was completely clogged with all manner of cars, buses, auto-rickshaws, scooters, motorcycles, mopeds and bicycles. I managed to cross, bought the milk, and then I simply could not find an opportunity to get back across the road! There was not a pedestrian crossing anywhere near, the traffic was utterly relentless, and actually moving dangerously fast in both directions on a road with no median strip to take refuge on. Luckily for me, the traffic finally got clogged enough to come to a halt, and I took advantage of it to slip across through the gaps between vehicles.  

I remember fondly my late father’s succession of carefully cared-for Lambretta scooters. The Lambretta, based on a 1950s Italian design, was seriously underpowered with a rather inefficient 150cc 2-stroke engine, emitted a pleasant growl, and was generally pleasant and rather tame to ride. My father, a careful and conservative rider, actually liked it for its lack of power.  As a kid  I often hitched a ride with my dad on this scooter, standing in front of him clutching the handlebars when I was little and sitting behind him in later years. I must confess that since I did not have siblings and wasn’t allowed a pet,  I became rather peculiarly devoted to this scooter in a sort of transference of affection.

My point is that at the time (the 1960s and 1970s), a motorbike or scooter was still an upper-middle-class possession. Even fewer people could afford cars. But in the last decade, India’s economic revolution, especially when combined with the plentiful availability of credit, has brought these possessions within reach of the 200-million strong lower middle class. As a consequence, the number of registered vehicles in Chennai skyrocketed from 125,000 in 1981 to 1.8 million by 2002. With only 100 km of usable roads in the city (almost unchanged over the same period), it hardly needs saying that this represents unsustainable growth.

But the proliferation of vehicles has not taught the local population better driving habits. The best way to describe the rules of traffic in major Indian cities is “Anything Goes”. I saw the first alarming sign of this within minutes of leaving the airport, when my driver blithely drove at full speed through the first red light that we encountered. Granted, there wasn’t much traffic at 4 am, but this type of blatant disregard for traffic rules is something that the visitor soon finds to be ubiquitous. Only in the presence of a uniformed traffic policeman  do vehicles stop at intersections. Traffic lanes are rare, and when present, ignored. The sides of roads are clogged with all variety of parked vehicles, roadside stalls encroaching into the street, heaps of refuse, cyclists, and pedestrians. The center line dividing the road, I discovered, is a fluid if not imaginary line, and lacking space, vehicles will simply swing into the oncoming traffic to get by, forcing the latter in turn to swerve or stop.

Entering a crowded road from a side road and can’t find a gap in the traffic? No problem.  Simply turn right into the path of oncoming traffic and they will be forced to slow or stop for you. To be safe, blow your horn incessantly to announce that you are about to break every rule in the book. The unpredictability of this type of behavior slows traffic down (thankfully, for otherwise the number of fatalities would be even worse than it is). But at certain times of day, the traffic stops completely, as I discovered, when I tried to shop one weekday afternoon. After a 45 minute trip covering less than 10 miles, I finished one shopping errand, and I needed to go just another mile or so to finish the second. But I found that I was driving away from the direction I needed to go and that the traffic was completely stopped. The police have recently taken to lining the center of busy Chennai streets with cinder block medians to prevent traffic from turning or making U-turns. This is probably a good idea in general, but unfortunately for me, it meant that I would have to go to the end of the street and come all the way back. After 25 more minutes of stop-and-go, I had had enough. We just headed home and called it a day. (Above is a picture of the Anna flyover clogged with traffic, while the scene below shows a typical traffic scene in Chennai.)

The cost of this traffic congestion is already very high, in terms of lost productivity, reduced safety, and increased pollution. During much of the day, except late at night or early morning, it takes over an hour and a half to get from Egmore to Tiruvanmiyur, i.e., from the center of the comparatively small city to near the edge. No wonder Chennai residents are paying ridiculous prices to live near where they work. Many businesses have taken to operating after 5:30 pm to avoid traffic problems. During my one week sojourn, I met with my lawyer, a chartered accountant, and my mom’s dentist, at their suggestion,  at 7 pm, 9pm and 10pm respectively!

As for safety, in 2002, Chennai had the worst accidents record from buses of any major  metro area (1737 accidents for 2314 buses, almost an accident per bus per year!), beating out Delhi for first place. In 2006, 11009 persons died in the state of Tamil Nadu in 55145 accidents in Tamil Nadu, the state in which Chennai is located. Throughout India, over 71% of head trauma injuries result from 2-wheeler accidents, most to riders under 40 years of age. Helmet usage, despite laws to the effect on the books, continues to languish under 50%.  In 2006, the motor accident claims tribunal in Chennai had over 20,000 cases while only about 4,000 of them could be heard per year.

Finally, with poor enforcement of emission standards, and stop and go traffic, the fumes  and dust on Chennai roads are enough to make even healthy people sick. A huge cloud of smog is blown away each day by the sea breeze that sets in each afternoon. I saw many motorbike riders wearing handkerchiefs over their noses and mouths (but not helmets). Sitting in traffic on a hot humid afternoon, breathing in the fumes from all the traffic nearby, I began to appreciate the meaning of the word “quality of life”. After the first couple of days, I could not deal with the pollution and took to renting air-conditioned cars, even though the weather was fairly pleasant, simply to escape the effluvium.

The issues are almost overwhelming – I return depressed. The problem of  traffic, consisting of roads, traffic  control, congestion, and emission standards and vehicle pollution,  is among the biggest challenges facing Chennai today. Along with the issues of sewage, and garbage, it  represents a major challenge for the public sector, which is ill-equipped to deal with it. Let us look at at these other challenges next.

Go to next section (8. Waste Waterways)

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