A chaotic Mangal Eri Park signal near Ambattur Industrial Estate-OxBig News Network

The signal near the Mangal Eri Park in Mogappair
| Photo Credit: Saptarshi Bhattacharya

When chaos reigns, order is not always the only victim.

In fact, at the newly established signal near the Mangal Eri Park in Mogappair, there is a certain element of order in the chaos.

Imagine this: the traffic lights for three of the four roads may by red, but that does not discourage vehicles coming from those three roads from crossing the junction out of turn. The absence of a police personnel is indeed an incentive. Many do wait for their turn for the lights to turn green, but there is hardly any motivation for the same. A lot of honking and frayed tempers are common, especially during peak hours. Amidst all that, life rolls on with a few hiccups along the way.

The junction, at the intersection of Ambattur Estate Road (which runs from Thirumangalam to Ambattur Industrial Estate) and Mogappair Road (which connects Padi with Mogappair East), handles a fair volume of traffic everyday with office-goers from the western suburbs like Ambattur and Avadi crossing over to the city, while those from the city driving across to Ambattur and surrounding areas. Besides, Padi as well as Ambattur Estate house several micro and small enterprises that move their materials through this junction everyday.

So, is this chaos a matter of concern? “What do I say,” remarked Aakash, a 22-year-old autorickshaw driver, with a wry smile, perhaps indicating that he tacitly supports the arrangement. He said he crosses the junction almost everyday on his way from Avadi, where he lives, to the Anna Nagar area.

Lack of police personnel

On most days, there aren’t any traffic police personnel on duty at the signal. “They normally stand away from junctions, waiting to catch people who jump signals,” said Vijay, another autorickshaw driver.

Interestingly, cameras have been installed at the junction but nobody knows if they function. Sathish, a professional with a manpower outsourcing company, said that if the cameras worked, those flouting signals would be penalised immediately. “I was on a motorcycle once with my wife near ICF. She was without a helmet. I received a message within the hour. I had to pay ₹1,000 as fine,” he mentioned.

Sathish, whose work involves a lot of running around the city, says that he could find police personnel stationed at very few signals along the busy stretch. The deterrence effect would have led to better road discipline if either of the two approaches — presence of police personnel at intersections or penalising violators using cameras — worked, he added.