Traffic discourse: What Can We Learn From Kerala

By Dipak Roy

I was in Kerala recently for about a month. I was living in a village called Kareepra, which is about 20 km from the nearest big city – Kollam. Among other things, what impressed me most about the place was the quality of roads and their driving etiquettes: the roads – even in the average village and town – were in excellent condition with proper signage. There were red pavement markers installed at turns on the narrow roads; speed breakers and rumble strips were clearly marked and even on the narrowest of village roads the road divider was clearly marked with white lines. The roads were maintained very well and I did not experience potholes. But what surprised me even more pleasantly was the disciplined way in which people drove their vehicles and parked them. No one crossed the road-divider line and at road intersections without traffic lights people waited patiently and gave way to each other. As a result,there were virtually no traffic snarls. In the four weeks that I stayed, I did not see a single incident of road rage or collision. This stood out in sharp contrast to my experience while driving on Bhubaneswar roads and in other cities.

Leading Cause of Death 

The World Health Organisation (WHO) says that Road Traffic Injuries (RTI) is the sixth leading cause of death in India. One report of 2016, in response to a Lok Sabha question, indicated that the number of road accident crashes that year was 480,652, which resulted in 150,785 deaths, that is, 31.3 deaths in every 100 crashes. For comparison, the same report gave a figure of 0.94 deaths per 100 crashes in Japan. 

So what makes this striking difference? We can think of two different sets of factors which result in high incidence of deaths due to RTI: first, the behaviour of people who drive automobiles, and second, the road infrastructure and management of traffic. 

Driving Etiquettes 

Talking of driver behaviour, the first thing that comes to my mind is the lack of basic discipline. Driving a vehicle on a road without posing a threat to others presupposes that the driver follows a set of basic rules prescribed for the country the person lives in. For instance, our traffic rules tell us to drive on the left side of the road, but every so often we see people in our city driving on the wrong side of the road, even on highways at a fairly good speed. This is simply suicidal. Similarly, when overtaking a vehicle, we are supposed to do it from the right side only and only when there is space. But so often we find bikers overtaking us on both sides and that too, on crowded roads where there is barely any space. 

When taking a turn, we are expected to switch on our indicator well before we turn to the left or right so that the persons driving behind us are alerted and they slow down so as not to crash into us. But some people just do not believe in switching the indicator on their vehicle. I have often wondered why they don’t do that. Is it because they feel it is beneath their dignity to indicate which way they want to turn? Or is it because they never knew what the indicator switch/lever was meant to do when they bought their vehicle and thought it was just some kind of decorative item? Maybe they feel that if the indicator is used too often, it will break down or burn out or something. I am completely mystified by this reluctance to use the indicators.

When driving at night, some drivers leave their high beam on permanently irrespective of whether the streets are well lit. They are totally insensitive to the effect their high beam has on the oncoming traffic. The new generation of vehicles, which come fitted with LED lamps, only makes it worse. The effect on approaching vehicles is blinding and can potentially cause dangerous accidents.

It is obligatory that people who drive automobiles understand what traffic light signals mean. When the traffic light changes from red to amber/yellow, it is not a sign for traffic to move on. The amber allows vehicles which are already crossing to move on. Vehicles at traffic crossings must remain within the STOP line until the light turns to green. But we see vehicles crossing well beyond the STOP line and moving on the moment the red light changes. This is so dangerous because traffic from opposite directions would still be flowing. When traffic has crossed over well beyond the STOP line, the situation becomes vicious. The list can go on.

Road infra & traffic management 

Let us go to the second factor – road conditions and traffic management. Some of the driving misdemeanours listed must be tackled by strict enforcement of traffic rules. For instance, obeying traffic lights can be enforced by imposing fines without making any exceptions. There should be zero tolerance for jumping red lights. 

Similarly, crossing the STOP line should be enforced strictly. When I was much younger and living in Delhi, I had once made the mistake of crossing the STOP line inadvertently by a couple of feet maybe. I was fined immediately and after that I never made that mistake. Discussion with police officers suggests that there are not enough traffic police constables and the department does not have enough resources. Traffic Police posted at street crossings need to be supported by fast mobile traffic patrol cars. Without that reinforcement, traffic constables are sometimes threatened by lumpen and antisocial elements and there have been reports of traffic cops being manhandled on Bhubaneswar streets when they were apprehending offenders.

But not every errant behaviour can be addressed through policing. The attitude of the citizens is something which makes a huge difference. If one is sensitive to others and has respect for others, then one will never do something which inconveniences others. For instance, how I park my car when I am stopping for a brief period on the roadside indicates whether I have concern for others or not. After observing the way people park their cars randomly, I am tempted to conclude that the size of a person’s ego is directly proportional to the size of the car a person drives. How else can we explain the thoughtless manner in which some people park their large SUVs in the middle of the road because they want to buy something?

Which brings me back to where I had started – about the people of Kerala and how they handle their vehicles. I use two criteria for judging how civilised a society is: one, how they drive and park their vehicles and two, how clean are their public toilets. On both counts Kerala scores very well. 

More on the second criterion – clean public toilets – later.

(The author worked with UNICEF, the World Bank, DANIDA and holds extensive experience in social research, and in planning, delivery & monitoring of social services.)