Sent by: Dr. Mareena Thaha Reffai, Vanderwert Place, Dehiwela

Someone has decided to put up a No U turn board on Galle road in Dehiwela where the Waidya road joins the Galle road. Even after 8pm when the opposite lane is almost emptyƒ”š‚  the motorists travelling from Wellewathe side ƒ”š‚ have to go all the way to the Dehiwela station road ƒ”š‚ junction to turn around and come to enter any lanes up to the 2^nd lane. Does anyone realize what a lot of wastage this is of fuel, time and man power? This loss is not only for the motorists but in turn is a loss for the nation. During rush ƒ”š‚ hours there are ample number ƒ”š‚ of traffic cops directing the flow, and it is a simple matter ƒ”š‚ to prevent the motorist from taking a ƒ”š‚ u turn if the traffic is heavy on the opposite side. It is an utterly unnecessary act to prevent ƒ”š‚ u turn here at other times.

Wellewathe is opening up the one way turning points into two ways ƒ”š‚ realizing the need to let go of vehicles as many as possible from the main stream, whereas in Dehiwela just the opposite is happening. During heavy traffic times turning into every single ƒ”š‚ side lane from beginning of Wellewathe ƒ¢¢”š¬- Dehiwela junction ƒ”š‚ up to the Dehiwela Station road ƒ”š‚ are blocked so that all the ƒ”š‚ vehicles which ƒ”š‚ need to turn into all the 18 side lanes have to go all the way ƒ”š‚ up to the station road junction and come back! Just imagine even if the number of motorists turning into each lane is onlyƒ”š‚  about 50 vehicles, that is an amazing 900 vehicles travelling this distance of about ƒ”š‚½ a mile unnecessarily. No wonder the traffic builds up to block the roads all the way back to Wellewathe.

During heavy traffic hours there are more than enough ƒ”š‚ traffic cops on the road and it is a simple matter for them to stop the oppositeƒ”š‚  lane traffic and let these vehicles goƒ”š‚  off the road while the 2^nd and 3^rd liens of traffic go on. The traffic cops must beƒ”š‚  educated to let the motorists turn when the opposite traffic is low. Even before the No u turn board was put up, there were cops who used to ƒ”š‚ refuse turning even when the opposite lane was totally empty just to show ƒ”š‚ their short term power!

As it is, the arrangement in Dehiwela actually helps to build up more congestion than vice versa but then those who make the decision say ƒ¢¢”š¬‚Even if we do a survey we will find that ƒ”š‚ this will be the right wayƒ¢¢”š¬‚!!!!! ƒ”š‚ And we Srilankans are so used to ƒ”š‚ ƒ”š‚ accepting decisions made by anyone and ƒ”š‚ meekly following them ƒ”š‚ whatever they are, without questioning.

When will we wake up to reality? ƒ”š‚