Now Reading: Hyderabad loses 200 hours a year to traffic and hot nights
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Hyderabad loses 200 hours a year to traffic and hot nights
Hyderabad residents lose nearly 200 hours a year to traffic congestion and sleepless nights, two separate studies show. The TomTom Traffic Index says commuters waste 123 hours annually stuck in jams, with…
The Story in Brief
Hyderabad residents lose nearly 200 hours a year to traffic congestion and sleepless nights, two separate studies show. The TomTom Traffic Index says commuters waste 123 hours annually stuck in jams, with a 55.5% congestion level and average speed dropping to 10 kmph during evening peak. The city's vehicle population has hit an estimated 80 lakh, but road and public transport expansion has not kept pace.
A Climate Central analysis of 1,338 cities finds Hyderabadis lose another 75 hours of sleep each year due to high nighttime temperatures, of which around seven hours are directly linked to climate change. Southern India, where concrete traps heat, sees 70 to 90 sleep hours lost annually, well above the global average of 56 hours. Researchers note air conditioning access is unequal in South Asia.
The Indian Opinion
The twin studies expose two slow crises that rarely make a headline together: road congestion and heat. Hyderabad's vehicle count has doubled in a decade, yet public transport is neglected. The traffic police keep fining violators, not fixing the systemic choke point. On the heat side, 75 lost sleep hours per year is a health tax the poor pay most, since air conditioning is unequal. The real test will come when the government announces its next budget, will road-widening win over bus lane funding, and will a night shelter policy appear for those without coolers?
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
