The traffic department in Kashmir has to realise that traffic management, particularly in Srinagar, involves more than just erecting barricades, installing dividers, and creating unneeded detours. Carrying weapons pointlessly doesn’t really help in managing traffic—what on earth does a traffic cop need a weapon for? Unfortunately, our traffic department has a limited understanding of policymaking, and they don’t seem to realise that they are the real stakeholders in the subject and must take steps to make the roads safe and secure through effective policymaking and expert handling of the matters. But everything they do is seen to revolve around a lot of hullabaloo rather than policy development or more effective traffic control.
There are many things that need to be improved and fixed, but the administration could start by putting better road infrastructure in place. This could be done by using better lighting, signage, speed bumps, rumble strips, safer crossings, and pedestrian crossing signals in busy places. A system of automated enforcement, including red light and speed cameras, as well as driver assistance technologies might be developed with a greater emphasis on having an upgraded Emergency Response system ready to be used in the case of an accident. There is a lot that can and should be done, but to make commuting on city roads safer, the government and the traffic department must start someplace.
While we criticise the traffic department, the administration must also take the situation seriously and cease its just-talk-no-action attitude immediately because people’s lives are valuable and those in high positions must demonstrate that these lives matter. Currently, we are at a point where the administration must awaken and demonstrate its presence while also playing a role in ensuring that the roads, particularly in Srinagar city, are made safe, to begin with. The traffic department must also abandon its “we don’t care” approach and accept responsibility for each accident that takes place on a city road; they cannot shirk their duty. They must comprehend the value of human life and that the loss of life cannot be taken lightly.
