Having stayed in Cuttack to complete my schooling up to the seventh standard & having to return to Bhubaneswar to do my graduation in B.tech, I have got to know these two cities or twin cities as they are called, quite well. Having spent a major part of my life here, I have observed one thing. The people of Odisha are very kind hearted and friendly people. They love their food, they love their festivals& they love their khattis (casual evening time hangouts of friends). But there is a particular type of discipline that is quite visibly missing among the people of these two cities- and I am talking about traffic discipline here.
In my eight years of staying here, I observed a very bad habit of the people riding two wheelers on the footpath- in spite of having broad, well maintained 8-laners here in Bhubaneswar, the motorcyclists choose to drive their Pulsars & R15s on the footpath itself. The pedestrians face a lot of problems as a result. Whenever the road is jammed or the riders need to ride on the wrong side, they take on the footpath. This is a very serious problem as the pedestrians are at a great danger. They are vulnerable to road accidents even when they have no fault of their own. The guys with the helmets may say they do not ride at high speeds on the walkway so there are no chances of accident but then again, the word itself means – an unfortunate incident that happens unexpectedly and unintentionally, typically resulting in damage or injury. So one can never take things for granted. Other than this, the parking etiquette of the people also needs to improve. Often bikes and cars are spotted parked right in front of the gates of building and shops that congests the free passage for people to walk into and out of the buildings. These things need to be taken care of in the traffic scenario of the twin cities of Odisha.
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