Inefficient Traffic Police and motorists creating traffic chaos in Dehiwala

I wish to bring to your attention a predicament faced by residents of Frazer Avenue, Rathnakara Place, Initium Road, Albert Place and Campbell Place in Dehiwala due to poor traffic management by the Traffic Police and ignorant motorists.

On working days from five until nine in the evening, motorists using the Marine Drive blatantly ignore three road signs saying entrance is “strictly for residents only” and end up on a narrow residential thor- oughfare named Ramanadan Avenue which connects the earlier mentioned lanes and the Galle Road. There are no openings on the Galle road to turn towards Dehiwala junction; however, our ignorant motorists use these narrow residential lanes and form disorderly queues to join the uniflow of traffic in the opposite direction to which they were going.

The primary reason they openly disobey the road signs is that the traffic police allows motorists to take “U” turns from Atapattu road adjoining St. Mary’s Church. This leads to an unprecedented number of vehicles plying these narrow lanes and causing much hardship to the residents. The unruly behaviour exhibited by them causes disturbances to the peace of the neighbourhood as well.

The only way to curb this menace is to stop motorists from making “U” turns from Atapattu road and direct them to the traffic lights at William junc- tion. After all, the arrangement planned by the traffic police is for all motorists to exit from the Marine Drive via Wasula road which has traffic lights and a police officer to streamline traffic. We wish the relevant authorities would look into this matter and stop the harassment faced by residents living in these lanes.

D. Rajapakse

Campbell Place