Having been driving on the Western Express Highway of Mumbai since past 9 years now, I consider myself somewhat an expert of that road. So much so that I thought of writing this blog and also trying and making the Traffic Commissioner read this.
I have seen the highway grow…from a plain road to flyovers, from bottle necks to wide roads. But still its not enough. The traffic jams just do not reduce. Infact its a shame to call it a Highway anymore.
So let me rant off my wisdom…if anybody is interested…
I simply dont understand what is the use of flyovers when there are traffic jams at the exit 
ends…either because of Nakabandi by police(currently observed daily at the north end of Andheri flyover) or because BEST busstops are hardly 100 meters away from the end of the flyovers(south end of Malad flyover). These busstops dont only create a traffic jams because of buses stopping there, it also because of rickshaw drivers and other vehicles stopping there trying to woo the harried bus travelers who are getting late because the bus has not come in yet.
One more observation I have made is that the beginning of flyovers are being used by private buses as a collection point. This leads to a bottleneck thus leading to slowing of traffic.
We are a major city with no facility of immediate removal of breakdown vehicles or vehicles involved in accidents. Neither have we demarked any service lane to move such vehicles. Some vehicles are allowed to be repaired right in the middle of the road, which is one more reason for the jams.
Driving slow in the fast lane is one more headache. There are various kinds of drivers in this category…the rickshaw drivers, the busy on the mobile drivers, the lady drivers. They take pride in keeping the lane ahead of them totally empty, leader of the pack of the long line of cars behind them. The busy on the phone drivers are still ok as they wake up from their slumber moment the call is over and speed up again…the remaining two…less spoken of the better!!! Our Traffic department knows of only asking for fine for overspeeding not for underspeeding.
Oh forgot the old uncles, who are out there in the fast lane to protest against the fast cars. No matter how many cars overtake them, they drive at their own leisurely speed, reminding us of their times when cars never used to touch even 50 KMPH!!! ( I dont think they understand my sign of middle finger also )
Dedicated public crossings seem to be decided not by the traffic departments, but by the public and the local politicians. Dividers disappear overnight, barbed wires are effortlessly cut to create a new gap for the local public to cross. Forget public crossings, at some places U-turns appear overnight creating trouble to the cars.
Sigh!! I can go on and on and on…..
I know the traffic department alone is not to be blamed , even we as the citizens are responsible for most of this mess. But then when rules are implement strictly( and not just to pocket the money by enforcers), things can change….but who is going to bell the cat….
