Red lights no longer good enough to stop drivers…..Megha Sood
Traffic violations seem to be on a rise in the city with the traffic police recording a significant increase in the number of drivers who jump signals. Over 1,200 cases a day of signal-jumping have been recorded by the police over the past few months, a six-fold increase from the average in early 2010.
“There is an alarming increase in traffic indiscipline among the city drivers. Everyday we penalise more than 1,200 drivers but there are many more who escape getting caught. The fine is not a deterrent,” said Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Brijesh Singh. To deal with the problem, the traffic police will soon initiate drives to penalise offenders.
Jumping signals is the most common traffic violation followed by lane cutting and rash driving. “We have been conducting regular drives to punish offenders but the problem of signal-jumping persists. After the traffic police started an official webpage on Facebook requesting netizens to point out traffic violators, the webpage has been flooded with pictures of offenders jumping signals. The complaints and photos point out that not just commuters but even police officers have been flouting traffic rules,” said Singh.
The traffic police have taken serious action against those whose pictures have been posted on Facebook. “Drivers tend to commit the violations of rash driving and signal jumping simultaneously. If the driver is speeding it is not difficult to assume that he would be jumping signals and cutting lanes,” said Sudhir Badami, an independent analyst on road transportation, traffic and urban issues.
Despite the presence of a traffic police officer at signals drivers speed away. The officer cannot even stop the speeding vehicle as it is dangerous, so many offenders are not caught,” said Singh.