Junked Cars Worsen Delhi Traffic Trauma

Snarls also deepen Delhi’s air crisis as vehicles running in lower gears emit more toxic fumes

- Ajay Kumar

As road infrastructure hasn’t kept pace with rising vehicular numbers, and also because of traffic mismanagement, city commuters wrestle with gruelling gridlocks and lose precious hours as well as a lot of money on unnecessary fuel burn every day.

Now a study by IIT-Delhi has revealed a new trigger for this mayhem — 2,099 junked vehicles abandoned on roads.

Most such vehicles (1,099) were found in crammed East Delhi areas. The number for West Delhi was 617. The rest 383 were seen in South Delhi pockets. Of them, 287 were found inside Railway and Metro station parking lots.

“When one car breaks down during rush hours, it leads to 3-4 km of traffic jams. Imagine the situation on roads where junked vehicles have been abandoned. We have suggested to authorities to remove such vehicles from roads,” said an IIT-Delhi faculty member who didn’t want to be named.