Olive branch

H. Kishie Singh

First let me explain how Good Motoring is involved with olives and that too, in Martinis.

A short story, often told in MBA classes, will help. An airline was running at a loss. A new CEO was appointed. Wanting to know everything about the functioning of the airline, he took a familiarisation flight on his very first day in office.

As soon as the flight levelled out he was served a martini with two olives. “We only have luxury class,” he was told. “To welcome the passengers, we offer a complimentary martini with two olives!”

Before the flight had landed, the CEO had passed an order, “Serve the martini with one olive.” The airline saved US $ 60,000 in the first year of operations under this CEO!

Chandigarh could learn a lesson from this. At zebra crossings there are two sign boards for pedestrians, cautioning them to Stop, Look, Go. They are on the pavement where the pedestrian stands. The one he has to read is way across on the other side of the road, sometimes six lanes away, out-of-sight.

Large vehicles, SUVs and certainly busses will obstruct his line-of-sight. Even with a clear line-of-sight, the size of the signboard is too small, no use. The other sign board is behind the pedestrian’s back. Totally counter-productive! It’s like winking at a girl in the dark!

The accompanying photograph says it all. The sign board across Jan Marg is barely visible and serves no purpose. The reverse of the sign board is black, waste of space. With a little bit of imagination and creativity, a road and traffic safety advisory could have been written on this blank space.

The sign board on the centre median serves a very definite and positive purpose. Easily visible, the line-of-sight is halved. The signboard can be raised and made larger for better visibility for the pedestrian as a safety factor.

Instead of two signboards, the one signboard in the centre median will be painted on both sides. You save one signboard, like the olive. Instead of two signboards, in two different places, one sign board is being held up on one pole. A saving of three upright poles. Material saved, paint saved, cost of installation from four poles to one, labour saved. Money saved. That is the purpose of this exercise.

It has been mentioned in this column, ad nauseam, that there is no traffic management professional to design signboards or roads. This is a difficult job in India. We have every type of transport — from man-pushed hand carts to animal drawn, home-made Marutas to Ferraris — on our roads. This involves not only the movement of mechanised vehicles, but animal-drawn vehicles share the road with fast-moving vehicles in India.

Another very serious problem is that no attention is paid to the safety of the pedestrians. And pedestrians do account for the largest number of casualties alongside cyclists on our roads. In fact, Chandigarh is not a pedestrian-friendly city. Corridors are for parking two wheelers not for window shoppers, designated parking lots are for rehri-walas.

The authorities are asleep with eyes wide open and have allowed Chandigarh to degenerate into a typical Indian city: Squalid, unkempt, uncared for!

Happy Motoring!