To the concerned authorities,
We, the undersigned citizens, request your urgent attention to a growing road-safety concern in our neighbourhoods and residential areas: the increasing use of large SUVs and oversized vehicles on narrow Indian lanes.
Our roads and residential lanes were often designed decades ago, when vehicles were considerably smaller. Today, large SUVs and wide-bodied cars frequently enter these narrow lanes, leaving very little space for pedestrians, two-wheelers, cyclists and other vehicles.
This creates serious safety concerns:
Restricted visibility at turns and intersections.
Increased risk of collisions and accidents.
Difficulty for ambulances, fire engines and other emergency vehicles to pass.
Greater danger to children, senior citizens, pedestrians and stray animals.
Vehicles parked or driven on both sides can make already narrow lanes almost impassable.
Drivers are often forced to squeeze past each other, increasing the possibility of accidents.
We are not against large vehicles. The concern is about using vehicles that are disproportionate to the road infrastructure available in residential lanes.
We therefore request the authorities to:
Identify extremely narrow residential roads where large vehicles pose a safety hazard.
Enforce appropriate speed and parking restrictions on such roads.
Install suitable warning and road-safety signage.
Regulate indiscriminate parking that further reduces the usable road width.
Conduct a study on whether certain narrow lanes require vehicle-size or access restrictions, especially at critical points.
Improve road design and traffic management wherever possible.
Create greater public awareness about choosing vehicles appropriate to local road conditions.
Road safety must take precedence over convenience and status.