Why did Outer Ring Road have twice the usual traffic?

Bengaluru witnessed traffic jams extending way past midnight on 27th September. Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic) M N Anucheth offered clarification about the situation through a statement. 

“Traffic is twice as much as usual. On an average Wednesday 1.5 to 2 lakhs are on the road. However on 27th September 3.59 lakhs were on road as of 7:30 pm,” he mentioned. 

He said this is because of the bandh yesterday. “A lot of employees have come to work and tried to exit at the same time in the evening,” he said. 

A Long weekend awaits employees. If one takes Thursday off, they would have a 5 day weekend starting tomorrow. Thursday also happens to be Eid-A-Milad. Lots of people living in that area (Outer Ring Road) were exiting Bangalore to go out. 

 Rains have caused waterlogging at several interior roads. These paths are being avoided. Rains have caused multiple potholes which is causing slow movement of traffic

 The  commissioner also mentioned that multiple vehicles broke down in the period between 3:30 pm and 5pm, on roads already narrow due to metro work. 

“At least six vehicles  including four cars, one heavy goods vehicle, and one light goods vehicle broke down between 3.30 and 5 pm along the ORR due to engine issues and tyre punctures. As soon as we cleared these vehicles, traffic piled up again,” he stated.