For all the good work that traffic police is driving in the city via BTRAC, I do think that the "no parking" boards (few thousands of them that have come up) are not the best use of money. Here are my issues with them:
- The signs don't convey their "range". May be that the RTO manual has it written loud and clear that each sign covers 100 meters (I don't know the range myself), but the fact is most of us don't know. So, its common place to see vehicles parked everywhwre except right under the no-parking boards
- There is a cost to maintenance. Street furniture with metal that could be uprooted and sold as scrap is potentially risky business.
- Its expensive from coverage point of view (message conveyed per feet length of road). Cost is a relative thing, right? So hear out the alternative I mention below
A better alternative would be to go for painted road side kerbs (or curbs). The edge of the pavements today, in most places are painted. I am guessing that BBMP paints the pavements, BTRAC may be painting only the hard medians (the concrete dividers). The black/yellow stripes that they paint don't convey anything - a potential waste of usable "signage space".
Imagine this
- Red paint on kerb - can't park
- Yellow paint - can stop for load/unload, but not park
- Green - can park
- No paint at all - can park if there is no no-parking board in sight.
Painting on concrete would be a lot cheaper than standing sign boards every 50 meters. Painted kerbs look nicer as well.
And, a bonus - as part of the road kerb painting exercise, pavements would get some much needed attention.
[Will try upload some pictures to make the point more clear]
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File a PIL...
There will be lots of people happy to join the PIL. File a PIL.
Enforcement
Frankly it does not matter whether they paint the kerb or put signs unless they enforce them. They have put up No Parking signs all over the place but nobody seems to care - people blatently park right in front of the signs. So all of this is useless if they expect it to work by appealing to the better sense of our fellow citizens - as no such thing exists.
In fact, in some cases - the road on which I live on, for example - these signs have resulted in people doing other illegal things - like parking in front of gates or on the footpaths or putting stones to reserve their spots etc.
Ramesh
Sine-ages
What is being discussed here as I understand is about Sine-ages and sustainable Traffic. This coincides with one of the CiSTUP mandates. In yesterdays meeting with CiSTUP this point was brought up by Prof TG Seetaram. He is looking for proven experts on sine-age technology. It would be better if interested PRAJA members contact TGS directly IMHO.
No parking signs
SB, You are right to the extent that painted Kerbs would be a better way to indicate parking than sign boards. In addition to the advantages you have listed, another important one is to reduce signage clutter. The lesser the signs one sees while driving, the better is the impact of each sign. Signages should thus be used judiciously and the non-important ones should be put into the background, like the no parking. The negative I see is it needs better maintaineance, should ensure it is painted regularly, else over time it will be a guessing game
However, as Ramesh right points out, it hardly matters because a lot of people do not obey. However, it is not a question of enforcement only. The parking slots have to be there in the first place, neatly put, should not obstruct pedestrians and vehicles alike. This requires good design of the road to start with, enforcement is a layer on top of that. Which is where you should take the trouble to read this document, specially there is a section on footpath-complete(pg 10) and another on signages(pg 27) (still in the works) - which would is a good place to give your suggestions.
http://www.filesanywhere.com/fs/v.aspx?v=896d6b8f5f617376ae6d
Suhas
Good one, SB
SB,
Your idea is simple and pragmatic.
The enforcement part is the next step. We need to have the fundamentals in the form of the signages in place first to take the next step of enforcement. Of course, other suggestions like design of footpaths, roads, etc are well meaning. But, I guess SB is trying to just cover the "better" signage aspect here.
Am not sure you understand
Sandeep,
As an academic suggestion, its probably a good one. If thats what you are indicating, its OK. But in terms of practical value as a standalone suggestion, it will have zero impact, as Ramesh has explained. You have to look at the totality of the road and do a comprehensive design, and then all these little things will add up to give you the impact you desire
It is like a pipe with hundred leaks. No point in closing only one of them.
Suhas
Practical suggestion... I agree
I agree with SB's suggestion. Painting the kerb/sidewalk/footpath is one standard way to indicate no parking or restricted parking zones internationally. The quality of the footpath as well as paint will be important in order for the sign to be long lasting.
This way, drivers have an idea of the exact no parking zone, which takes one variable away. Enforcement, behavioral change and driver education are other pirces of the puzzle that will eventually help the trafic overall. Thre is no magic bullet to solve our problems.
Parking signs
Dear SB,
What you have suggested is on the lines of 'Value Engineering'.
If BTRAC, BMTC etc. use this management tool, lot of expenses can be saved without compromising the funtion aimed at.
K.V.Pathy
No Parking in front of the gate
One more common thing every where is this "No parking in front of the gate". Even if we are not parking in front of the gate, people will say our car will be coming here and don't park, some even start fighting for this issue.
There should be clear advertisements from BTRAC saying that no one owns the space near your home unless if traffic has put Noparking board and anyone can park there except in front of the drive way. This is a major issue in busy localities like Jayanagar, Malleshwaram.
Road side Parking Lighter vain
Road side parking is for visitors who want to visit some house situated on the road or near by. Now we find Taxis of travel agencies on adjacent main roads regularly parking in my space. In the long run I find it OK. However if I was having own business or more of my own cars I will demand preference. No body can stop that I suppose.
However the whole subject will be trivial soon, as we are planning whole of Bangalore to be vehicle free. Only under ground metros please. à)