NGO Uyir proposes to take over maintenance of Coimbatore city traffic signals

The city has 59 automatic traffic signals and majority of which are dysfunctional

Coimbatore City Police have routed a proposal through the District Collector to the Chief Minister’s office for entrusting the maintenance of 59 traffic signals across the city to Uyir, an NGO working towards reducing accidents.

The city has 59 automatic traffic signals and majority of which are partly functional.

In most of the signals, the timers are not functional. Non functional timers results in motorists not getting a clue on when the signals would turn green, resulting in motorists keeping the engines on and thereby losing out on fuel conservation and fuel efficiency, pointed out Jaiwanth, a motorist who uses Avinashi Road on a regular basis.

In majority of the signals, either the red, amber or green light is non-functional leaving the motorists a confused lot, pointed out Lalitha, a finance company head who is also a frequent commuter on Avinasi Road.

In places such as Ukkadam, Aatuppalam where the flyover works are going on most of the signals are removed. Once the flyover works near completion, the signals would be re-installed, pointed out a senior traffic police official.

Signals started conking off one after the other for want of maintenance and due to dispute over who would pay the electricity bills between the Corporation and City Police.

Now, the City Police Commissioner V. Balakrishnan has mooted a proposal for modernising the signals and have routed the same through the District Collector G.S. Sameeran to the Chief Minister’’s office. Once the proposal gets cleared, the city police would replace all the signals with sophisticated software and the signals would turn smarter.