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| Parking that can't be found!!! | | | Dr. Pragya Khanna | 10/11/2015 12:33:21 AM |
| Today, most of the urban areas experience a challenge, which is better known as Parking traffic, which means traffic caused by motorists looking for their parking space or sometimes moving their vehicles into or out of parking areas. It goes without saying that Parking is an essential factor of the transportation system in our daily life. None of us is untouched with irritating parking problems. According to a general survey on an average a vehicle is parked for approximately 22 hours each day. Since every trip with a private vehicle requires parking at its destination, so parking facility is an integrated element of the roadway system. Convenient and reasonable parking are considered a sign of welcome. Parking that is difficult to find, insufficient, inconvenient or expensive disturbs the users and can add to overcrowding as people start parking where they should not.
If you go to Pacca Danga Market or Jain Bazaar or Kanak Mandi for shopping by car chances are that you will end up gritting your teeth in disgust. The reason that you have to spend some uneasy restless moments looking for a parking space, in some cases you may not be as lucky as others finding space on the road side or in front of some shop or narrow entrance of a lane. There are chances that you would take the hell out of your patience and decide to leave the market in a huff.
This is a problem that is being faced by shoppers for the past one decade. Given the fact that every year the number of shoppers coming here is on the rise and though time to time new parking lots have been created, however, owing to the coherent increase in the number of vehicles the condition has not changed much. Perhaps, blessed are those who visit the market without any private vehicles.
To add to this chaos this old city has conditions like narrow lanes, congested bazaars, street vendors and shopkeepers encroaching the footpaths, long traffic jams due to the unorganized parking which exacerbate the problem further for the exaggerated density of both humans and vehicles. Some shopkeepers are seen to park one or more of their two-wheelers haphazardly in front of their shops early in the morning just in order to encroach the space to be used later on in the day.
While some residential and office complexes have car parks, the average middle class citizen, who can today afford a car, has nowhere to park.. For most, therefore, the way out is to park on the streets and roadsides sometimes leading to double and triple parking. This clearly intricates the situation for drivers and for the traffic police who are unable to clear congested roads, making traffic jams unavoidable.
In some of the residential areas it has been seen that the residents generally dump their unused building materials such as concrete, sand, bricks etc. on the streets or they park their vehicles on the road in improper way or use the space outside their house for their varied purposes such as installing small shops and using the space as their extra territory. Those who do not have a parking slot of their own keep the cars 24 hours a day while moving or parked on roads.
"We need our two wheelers or four wheelers, otherwise we cannot manage," everyone I spoke to said. And, then it looks like it is a vicious circle and the size of the roads cannot increase in an old city like Jammu. Parking facilities are expensive to construct, imposing financial costs on developers, building users and governments. In addition, parking facilities enforce environmental costs, contradict with community development objectives for more habitable and walkable land, and moreover, abundant and unpriced parking tends to cause a further increase in driving and discourage use of alternative modes.
Most people seem to enjoy getting something for nothing, or at least a particularly good deal when making a purchase. A prize or discount often stimulates and excites customers to buy goods that they hardly need at all, simply to enjoy the feeling of accomplishment and reward. As a result, many businesses have set a trend to tag an excessive "regular" price for their products and then offer a discount that brings prices down to a competitive level, or they offer a nearly worthless "free" gift or prize to attract customers.
Often, what seems like "something for nothing" is really a delusion that is what you save in one pocket you pay from another. What seems like true economic savings is really an economic transfer, with costs borne elsewhere in the economy.
For example, motorists are generally used to unpriced parking, and once consumers are accustomed to getting something for free they tend to assume that is right and fair, and so they resist paying for it. But these facilities are not really free, we pay for them indirectly (accidents, damaged vehicles due to congestion, squabbles on the roadside, difficulty walking for the pedestrians, congested markets become less attractive for customers hence low business opportunities, the list is endless. Many big business stores in the city have shifted from the old city to posh Gandhi Nagar area which also has started swarming). When street parking is free, but there are no vacant spaces, many people drive around hunting for a space. This wastes valuable time and fuel. It interferes with pedestrians, congests roads and pollutes the air.
Though many a times it is suggested that private enterprise must be encouraged to build car parking tower blocks across the city to ease the problem. However, according to builders creating too much parking space could also be a problem. "Parking space must be optimal; it can lead to shortage of land that can be used for constructing residential flats, green parks, shops etc. In Punjab, many new projects have come up in suburban areas or far from the crowded places having basement parking lots that remain unused," says Harjinder Bajaj, a 42 year old building contractor. "Apart from turning to be a maintenance hassle, unused underground parking lots can also pose a law and order problem as they could be used by unscrupulous elements," he added.
Every home seems to have a car these days and indeed many homes have more than one car. More cars but the same amount of room to park can often mean problems for people with tightly packed neighborhoods as in most of the colonies or mohallas in Jammu. If we could all park outside our own homes it would be great but it is not always possible. Visitors and newer people to the street may not realize that you like to park outside your home. And in the same way if you are able to park outside your home rather than your neighbors, then please do. Many neighbor conflicts can be avoided through simple courteousness, considerateness and communication.
A friend of mine has a problem with a white van parked directly outside her window everyday, if the driver took two minutes prior thought, he could park so the bonnet is outside her window rather than the boot of the van which blocks out a lot of light. This means all she sees all day is a big white lump, says Radha, a housewife.
If you have no alternative but to park outside someone else's home please think about how you could do it with out causing the other person stress, can you have a calm word with them and apologize in advance? Think it over.
Suhail, a medical representative was very furious when he said, "I was passing through narrow space between cars parked on either side of the road. I was running late for work, and needed to get to that all important appointment when I saw the road in front blocked by someone's vehicle which was absurdly blocking the entire street. I knocked at their door and the man became angry that I had disturbed him in his sleep"
"Imagine you get ready for work early morning and find your next door neighbors have parked in front of your drive so you can not get out of your own gate", said Rahul, a businessman.
All these problems can be sorted out with a little more understanding and using your vehicle when it is really necessary. Be polite at all times with your neighbor, getting enraged will not improve the situation, drive and park as you would expect others to drive and park….and that's in the good way!
DO NOT park your vehicle on the road where it would jeopardize, cause inconvenience or obstruct pedestrians or other road users. For example, do not stop near a school entrance, anywhere you would prevent access for Emergency Services, at or near a bus stop or taxi stand, on the approach to a level crossing, opposite a junction, near the bridge, opposite another parked vehicle, where you would force other traffic to change way, in front of an entrance to a property or on a bend.
DO NOT park partially or wholly on the pavement unless signs permit it. Parking on the pavement can obstruct and badly cause inconvenience to pedestrians, the visually impaired and people with loads or children.
Though, to park car on road side, according to some, is our legal right as we all pay the road tax but still it is our country so we must do something good to protect its honor and pride. |
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