Watch out: Bengaluru Traffic Police are back to physical vehicle checks
Random vehicle checks and flagging off vehicles at every nook and corner of the city roads are back after a lull of two years
Jumping traffic signals, riding one way, footpath riding, riding without helmets, triple riding, and using mobile phones while riding are the major offences committed by two-wheeler riders across the city.
| Photo Credit: File photo
In a special drive carried out on Saturday, August 10, the East and South Division traffic police booked over 1,000 cases against erring motorists violating traffic rules.
Even though the traffic police termed this as a special drive, random vehicle checks and flagging off vehicles at every nook and corner of the city roads are back after a lull of two years. Motorists across the city are increasingly noticing the presence of traffic police on the streets after a long gap.
According to the official release issued by East Division Traffic, as many as 890 motorists have been booked for various violations and collected a total of ₹4.4 lakh fine amount from the offenders. Jumping traffic signals, riding one way, footpath riding, riding without helmets, triple riding, and using mobile phones while riding are the major offences committed by two-wheeler riders across the city.
“The special drive was carried often to reduce traffic violations and instill discipline among the motorists which has been on the rise for the last year. This also led to an increase in fatal accident rates,” Kuldeep Kumar Jain, DCP, traffic, East Division, said.
Physical checks and random checking of vehicles were stopped in June 2022 based on the direction of the then DG IGP Praveen Sood. The decision was taken following a series of harassment and corruption complaints, which, according to a senior police officer, dented the image of the traffic police across the country.
The order issued by Mr. Sood stated that no vehicle will be stopped solely for document checking unless it has committed traffic violations visibly.
The present DGP Alok Mohan also reiterated that the traffic police’s job is not enforcement, but traffic management until Home Minister G. Parameshwara differed with this view at a senior police officers meeting held recently. Mr. Parameshwara, while recommending law and order police to be visible on the roads to instill a sense of fear among the wrong doers, said this is also applicable to the traffic police.
Since physical checks on vehicles by traffic police stopped, motorists violated traffic rules with impunity and hoodwinked enforcement cameras by hiding the registration number plates.
ADGP, Traffic and Road Safety, Alok Kumar, said, “In Bengaluru city alone, seven lives were saved in the last three months compared to the last year. A total of 76 deaths have been reported in May, 72 in June, and 72 in July last year compared to 62 in May , 65 in June and 65 in July this year.”
He further said that there is a gradual dip in road accident deaths in Karnataka with the districts like Belagavi and Tumakur posting the most impressive results.
On the other hand, many motorists alleged that corruption and harassment are back due to these physical checks.
Read Comments
- Copy link
- Telegram
READ LATER
Remove
SEE ALL
PRINT