Following plaints of ‘confusion’, Chandigarh to review traffic lights on its slip roads

At the recently held meeting of the Federation of Sector Welfare Associations Chandigarh, residents had stated that traffic lights at the entry points of these slip roads end up confusing motorists rather than easing the flow of traffic

The Chandigarh traffic police will be reviewing the efficacy of traffic lights recently installed on slip roads in the city. The development comes after residents raised the issue of confusion caused by these traffic lights, during a recent meeting of the Federation of Sector Welfare Associations Chandigarh (FOSWAC).

Traffic lights installed at the entry point of the slip road of the Sector 26 grain market chowk in Chandigarh. (Keshav Singh/HT)

“New measures are introduced on roundabouts but the public isn’t made aware of them. Now, these lights have been installed on slip roads, which were meant to help traffic to slip away from the main stream of traffic. So residents are confused whether they should stop here or not,” said Pardeep Chopra, secretary, residents’ welfare association (RWA), Sector 21, adding that traffic cops are stationed at the slip road’s exit to cut challans of such unsuspecting people.

FOSWAC member Rajan Brar said: “What is the point of having traffic lights at only some roundabouts. There should be uniformity. Authorities must consider having blinker lights here instead of red lights.” While FOSWAC had orally apprised the police officers about this, general secretary JS Gogia will also send a formal complaint to the department.

When contacted, SP (traffic) Ketan Bansal said, “This is a genuine problem. We have asked the Children’s Traffic Park (CTP) teams to conduct awareness drives for people. We will also review how much of a difference these lights have had on the roundabouts -- whether they are actually needed or not.”

City-based road safety activist Harpreet Singh added, “The traffic police can work on awareness. Even their social media handles have a lot of followers, and it will only take a few days to launch a campaign regarding this.” Singh further added that traffic cops shouldn’t hide at these spots to issue challans. “Traffic cops should be present at the front so that the rules can be followed, and people stay safe.”