The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Traffic policemen rise to the occasion

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Oct 26, 2005

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Traffic policemen rise to the occasion

Special Correspondent

Police directed vehicles to less flooded service roads and suggested detours

Bangalore: The city traffic police rose to the occasion as Bangalore received record rainfall, flooding several major thoroughfares.

At the Madiwala Junction, along the flyover on Hosur Road, one of the worst affected, traffic chaos was minimised with police directing vehicles to less flooded service roads, and even suggesting longer but safer detours.

Many traffic police personnel were not properly protected from the weather. While a few wore raincoats and gumboots, others had to make do with their uniform hats and thin jerkins.

The usually busy Mahatma Gandhi Road became a rivulet and traffic had to be kept moving in the absence of signals which frequently failed. At several other busy junctions, vehicles were kept moving thanks to the skills of the police personnel. Almost every vehicle kept its headlights on because of poor visibility and collisions were few and not too serious.

Ever since accidents on a rainy night claimed five lives last week, the traffic police have been asking people to drive carefully.

Those going to and from Electronics City, for example, have been taking detours through Sarjapur Road to avoid bottlenecks. Road junctions where flyover construction has been on, such as those on Anandarao Circle and Airport Road have been badly affected by the rain.

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