“Abe andha
hai kya?”. These are the first words spoken in 90 percent of roads conflict in
India (Yup, that’s a made-up piece of stats). Jadu(that is actually the nick name of
one of my dearest friends), complying to the unwritten rule that every Indian follows
on the road, shouted these words. He was riding, and I was pillion on his
orange colored ‘Hero Glamour’, popular by the name ‘Santara’ (Hindi word for
fruit orange) in our college. As we neared the signal, a young boy, around 12
years of age, started walking to cross the road. Jadu applied brakes just in
time and avoided an accident.
Well, the
boy was clearly careless to jump on the road without checking the clearance on
both sides. Thanks to Jadu’s skillful riding and attention to the presence of zebra
crossing because of which he was riding his bike slow enough to react with in
time and avoid the collision.
Not a
difficult guess, zebra crossing gets its name from the animal zebra because of
the resemblance of the pattern with the animal’s skin. Its presence marks the
priority of right to way to be given to pedestrians. The zebra crossing were
researched and developed at ‘Transport Research Laboratory’ at Great Britain in
1948 and it got its name when the British MP James Callaghan while visiting the
laboratory and seeing the design noticed the resemblance with zebra. Zebra
crossing, initially blue and yellow in color was first used at about 1000
locations in the UK in 1949 before they were included to the law in 1951.
 |
| A pedestrian walking on zebra crossing |
Another
interesting road marking pattern is the box junction. If you live in Hyderabad
or Bengaluru, you must have noticed the yellow colored boxes painted on the
roads at junctions recently. Do you know what they mean? These yellow boxes, or
the box junction marking means that a driver can enter the junction only if he
could exit it without stopping. This means that before entering the junction,
the driver must ensure the clearance on the exit side and should not clog the
traffic by stopping at the junction. Failure to do so and stopping on these
yellow boxes is a traffic offence and can result in penalty and/or punishment.
 |
| an aerial view of a zebra crossing and box junction |
Another interesting
marking that you would have noticed on the road is the dashed or broken white
line at the middle of the road. Ever wondered what these lines mean? Well,
there are different types of lines marking at the middle of the road and each
has a different meaning. Below are a few basic ones.
Broken white line: This means that in this region, the driver can
make U-turns, change lanes or overtake another vehicle. General precaution of
ensuring that it is safe to take these actions must be followed.
Solid white line: This is opposite of broken white line. It means
you cannot make U-turn or overtake a vehicle. However, this line can be crossed
to exit to a perpendicular/side road or to avoid any obstruction, if it is safe to
do so.
Double yellow line: A double yellow line strictly marks
the lanes of opposite direction and should never be crossed.
Nerd Note 1: The zebra crossing is not the only way to mark
a pedestrian crossing. There are tiger crossings, toucan crossings. Ever heard
about them? Tell us in comments if you know what they are.
Nerd Note 2: In some countries like Australia, Malaysia, New
Zealand, the zebra crossing is painted in 3D manner to give the impression of a
physical obstacle to the drivers and slow them down. People also fancy getting
photographed on these 3D crossing as they appear to be hovering above the
ground due to an optical illusion. One such 3D crossing can also be found at
New Delhi, India.
Wittyscribble
urges its readers to follow the traffic rules and avoid rash and drunk driving.
Wear helmets and seatbelts (read here to know more about seatbelts). Care for
your safety and others’ safety.
And as always,
Thanks for
reading.
Ayush!!!
Comments
Post a Comment