HYDERABAD: It was an experiment that expired even before it was attempted. The plans of Hyderabad traffic police to form a model corridor to educate people about good traffic practices have been shelved.

Six months ago, Traffic Additional Commissioner A.K. Khan announced the idea of establishing a model corridor from Punjagutta junction to Parade Grounds. "This stretch will have separate lanes for different vehicles, speed limits, information boards and zebra crossings for pedestrians," he had said then.

The concept was to ensure that one stretch has all facilities like road markings to make people comply with traffic rules.

Such corridors were supposed to be extended to all parts of the city gradually.

But why was the plan dropped even before giving it a try? Difficulties in providing all facilities to a particular stretch and diversified opinions over success of the plan are some reasons, Mr. Khan says now.

Road engineers observe that the path should be straight at least for two kilometres and should be wide enough to earmark exclusive lanes for various categories of vehicles. "Otherwise it would be impossible to implement lane discipline.

Doubtful impact

Even if one or two roads have those conditions, extending the model corridor concept to entire city is ruled out," they argue.

Enforcing helmet and seat-belt rules too will be a problem since traffic movement will have to be stopped on that stretch for inspection.

Halting vehicles even for a few seconds to check documents on a bustling road like Punjagutta-Parade Grounds means inviting traffic snarls.

Scepticism about the positive impact such a corridor would have on people is another point that drove traffic police to drop the plan. Compared to the huge population of city, the number of people travelling on a model corridor would be considerably low.

Taking it easy

The journey time of an individual on that road vis-à-vis the total time he or she spends on driving in a day too would be much less.

After being made to strictly adhere to rules over a particular stretch, a vehicle rider may take light of the whole exercise since other roads would neither have such facilities. The degree of enforcing won't be the same either.

All these reasons led to the burial of the idea.

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