Traffic snarls an order of the day on highways

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI, SEPT. 10. Traffic snarls have become common along the main national highways radiating out of Chennai, in the absence of any visible policing along most stretches.

While residents in Chromepet, Pallavaram, Tambaram and beyond complain about haphazard parking of buses and trucks leading to traffic snarls, for those on the Chennai-Bangalore Highway the problem is slightly different.

Any vehicle breakdown is enough to hold up traffic for hours. For instance, on Monday afternoon, traffic on a three-km stretch from Chembarambakkam to Tirumazhisai came to a grinding halt after a trailer broke down.

Though the residents said the incident occurred past noon, there was no attempt to tow away the trailer till evening. Vehicles from either side trying to get ahead, resulted in a traffic block.

No policeman was to be seen around nor did anyone arrive as the vehicles piled up on both sides. Local residents allege that this was an ``usual occurrence''and generally got sorted out with the help of ``volunteers'' from among the affected-they direct traffic and bring back a semblance of order.

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