Traffic police return to manual gear on few signals

After a torrid day,on Wednesday,the traffic police opted for manual management of Housing Board signal,Kalagram and Railway crossing lights leading to better management of traffic. Long queues were still the visible on the signals regulated through automatic system even with modified timings.

The police claimed that manual regulation was only done for some time and they were modifying automatic systems to deal with traffic flow.

For the past three days,commuters,especially the office-going ones have suffered due to the traffic police’s sudden decision to shift to automatic traffic control. This decision was taken at a time when the previous system of manual traffic management was effectively dealing with rush-hour traffic.

Previously,traffic was manually regulated at four major traffic signals: Housing Board signal,Kalagram signal,railway and transport signals.

On Tuesday,travelling on the most frequently used link road between Panchkula and Chandigarh was a nightmarish experience.

The police claimed that the old system was was brought back after complaints were received regarding the manual system.

The manual system was started because the automatic traffic control was unable to give more time for vehicles to pass from the sides,which saw heavy traffic flow.

When contacted,Deputy Superintendent of Police (Traffic) Vijay Kumar said,“We were receiving a lot of complaints from all quarters regarding manual controlling of system. The decision to revert to automatic system was done on a trial basis. On Tuesday,we had increased the passing time on the sides where there is a heavy traffic inflow. Today we again increased the time and will evaluate the effect during the morning and evening rush hours.”

He added that the analysis of data from all the traffic light points will be done and a final decision will be taken in this regard after that.