Hyderabad

Hyderabad plans to install 220 new traffic lights. The city will spend the equivalent of approximately 10 million euros for the project. With LED lights, red and green light countdown, remote controlled, the modern lights will be set up within the next twelve months in Hyderabad and bring at least a little order to the chaos.

Equipped with solar cells, the traffic signals will continue to function even during the many power failures. “Then there will definitely be no excuse for running a red light,” says C.V. Anand, Addl. Commissioner of Police. “This means we will be able to better enforce the traffic regulations.”

It is unimaginable for Europeans. 220 traffic lights for nearly eight million inhabitants with 2.1 million vehicles; how can any laws be enforced? In Germany’s second largest city, in Hamburg, about 1,700 traffic lights are in operation for 1.7 million inhabitants and 840,000 vehicles. In 2010 (the most recent figures) 22 people were killed on Hamburg’s streets. The same year there were 490 fatalities (441 in 2011) in Hyderabad. So, why not install even more traffic signals to tame the chaos on Hyderabad’s streets? “If we would build more traffic lights there would be more traffic jams,” says Anand. It is a matter of choosing between more safety and a total gridlock.

Regardless of how many vehicles are travelling on Hyderabad’s streets, traffic flows at an average speed of 17 km/h during rush hour. Cars do not halt at crossings without traffic lights, but keep moving. Of 3,000 traffic police, 1,500 are always on duty on the streets. They attempt to keep the steady flow moving. If necessary, cars are waved over the intersection when the light is red. The priority is clear: to prevent traffic jams. Even when the new traffic lights are in place, the traffic police on site and in headquarters will be able to manually switch from red to green.

Naturally, pedestrians have a disadvantage in this traffic system. In January alone, 17 pedestrians were killed on Hyderabad’s streets. Their situation will not improve in the near future, either. On the contrary. “Every day, about 1,000 vehicles are registered in Hyderabad and about 500 driving licenses are issued,” says G. Panduranga Rao Jt. Commissioner & Secretary of the local transport authority. The number of registered vehicles has doubled in the city since 2001. “There is no end in sight,” says Rao. Commissioner Anand will have his work cut out for him in the coming years.