Hyderabad: The free left turn on the road leading to Cybertowers in Raidurg has not served its intended purpose. The concept was introduced by the Cyberabad traffic police at several locations on the traffic-heavy IT corridor to ease congestion and improve vehicular flow by allowing drivers to turn left at a signal without stopping.Yet, in this particular case, the free left turn has ended up causing more mayhem, leading to increased waiting time for commuters who cross this junction and want to take the free left. The problem starts just a few metres behind the junction, where commuters from the 100-feet road join the two-lane Cybertowers road through a left-lane connecting route. However, they are forced to stay in the left lane as the congestion does not allow them to merge with the right lane traffic. This leads to a situation where vehicles on the Cybertowers road, looking to take the left, often have their way blocked by vehicles, from the 100-feet road, that want to go straight.The situation has left commuters, who are already fed-up with the ever-increasing traffic, even more frustrated. “We already spend a lot of time waiting at this junction as the signal stays red for 120 seconds. To top this, the free left turn, which was supposed to help decongest this road, has had the opposite effect. Most often, especially during peak hours, traffic waiting time extends for more than five minutes because of the blocked free left turn,” says Bhuvan Chandra, an IT professional working in Gachibowli who uses this stretch every day. Traffic experts say the concept of a free left turn is incompatible with Indian roads because traffic rules and road discipline are not followed by all. “Moreover, it poses a risk to pedestrians crossing the road, who find it difficult to spot oncoming vehicles. Its consequences could prove to be costly. While the concept sounds optimistic on paper, introducing it on Indian roads does not really make a positive difference,” says Lokendra Singh, a road safety expert.Officials from the Cyberabad traffic police blamed the indifferent attitudes of commuters for why the free-left-turn concept has not been as effective as they anticipated. “We have been regularly capturing violations and issuing challans, but commuters continue to block free left turns, causing traffic congestion. At the end of the day, if traffic needs to be reduced, while traffic police can introduce policies aimed at doing that, the success of it will depend on the public, and if they choose to respect the rules and the laws,” says Sai Manohar, DCP (traffic) Madhapur.
