The road sense in the inner cities of india is non-existent. Is it government’s problem, or is it each of us people’s problem, it needs to be tackled in a way that is scalable, with the country so huge. Having travelled across the state boundaries of India, I noticed that the government of Telangana has done a good job in building the outer ring road (ORR) that aims at giving quick access to major points of interest in town. But the problem of inner city is still unsolved. One, the roads are not meant for the cars that are being sold in the market, and two, the public has no sense of driving, whether on two wheelers, autos, or four wheelers.

One would think that being educated you would follow the rules on the road, but that is not reality. You will find people turning right from left side of you, and turning left from the right side of you. Everyone thinks that safe driving or not hurting the other is not their problem.

Does the solution to this problem lies in having stricter rules for restricted lane driving, or education to the public of safe and efficient driving, or planning sufficiently broad streets when there is new development a.k.a city planning? Or is it a mix of both or something radically different?

Every state is different based on size and maturity of their traffic workforce and technological advances made in their transportation departments. This is what I see as an outsider.

We need help from each other, both the public, lawmakers, and city planners to make us a better, efficient, and in turn a green nation. I have heard several state governments or even the central government say or claim that they have or will reduce time it takes to reach from point A to point B when talking about traveling across cities and across states. But what about the city driving KPI’s? It takes more that 75mins to cover 12 to 13miles during a normal hours. That’s a waste of time for a workforce that spends 3hrs on the road commuting, and on top of that the frustration leading to losing peace of mind. These are moms, dads, children spending their precious time on road.

It will be great to hear from people in each city, start a dialog with the state and central government and work on this problem together. The concept of A | B testing to run pilots of these solutions are needed and publicly broadcast results and improve the state of the city roads.

If we are to succeed in the global markets, we need to take care of people’s day to day challenges, and make it easy for them to commute, and bring peace of mind to all! In my opinion, it’s doable.