Tamil Nadu - Coimbatore   

A mission to repaint road marks

The City Traffic Police have decided to get tough when it comes to violation of road rules, especially in regard to stop-line, lane discipline, yellow line and parking bays in an effort to bring some discipline. .

Given its vast industrial and business potential, the City is growing by leaps and bounds, accommodating a large number of migrant population not only from the southern districts of Tamil Nadu but also the business community from Northern States as well.

This has led to mushrooming of residential colonies. Keeping in tune with the growth in population, there is an increase in the number of vehicles. Decreasing carriageway due to rampant encroachments and increasing vehicles have led to chaos on the road.

Realising the need to discipline motorists and make them follow road rules religiously even in the absence of a constable at a traffic junction, police have embarked on this drive. "Self-discipline is a must in any civilised society. After all, the motorists should realise that road rules are meant for their own safety", police say.

Compliance with rules should be not out of fear of enforcement or penalty. Since this discipline has remained elusive, the City Police are now making the motorists realise what tightened enforcement could mean. "The City Police would henceforth display zero-tolerance towards even minor violations in a bid to bring discipline on the roads". But, as a prelude to the impending enforcement, they have started setting things right on roads first, before pulling up the motorists for violation.

The ongoing exercise during non-peak hours and night aims to give a fresh coat of rubber paint to the road marks, which have faded due to rain and wear and tear. The other violations under focus during the tightened enforcement would be use of cellular phones while driving or riding, three persons riding on two-wheelers, driving without licence and valid papers.

"Once the enforcement gets tightened, there would be discipline. This would, in turn, pave the way for safe roads with a telling effect on accident rates", police hope. They pointed out that once the road marks were re-painted, motorists could not cite visibility as an excuse.

The Commissioner of Police, Karan Singha, and the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime and Traffic), Vidya D Kulkarni, have drafted men from the standby strength like Armed Reserve and Tamil Nadu Special Police Battalion for early completion of the re-painting exercise. Thirty-five automatic traffic signals, two junctions with manual signals and 110 road intersections would get a fresh coat of paint.

Costly rubber paint is being used to withstand wear and tear and the ensuing South West monsoon. The police have a meagre sanction of Rs 30,000 a year for painting all the road marks on city roads. This seems to be inadequate since repainting needs to be renewed once in 90 days.

The police have managed to rope in corporate sponsors and voluntary organisations. For having all these road marks clearly visible throughout the year, the police require at least Rs 1.5 lakhs to Rs 2 lakhs. If more corporate houses and voluntary organisations besides associations for trade, industry and commerce came forward, the road marks could be maintained, police said. Those interested in sponsoring the road marking paints and signboards could approach the office of the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Crime and Traffic at the Commissioner's office on 0422-2301546.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Tamil Nadu

News: Front Page | National | Tamil Nadu | Andhra Pradesh | Karnataka | Kerala | New Delhi | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous | Engagements |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Updates: Breaking News |

Stories in this Section

Museum Committee plea to High Court
Get tough on illegal structures: consumer forum
Broadband: BSNL asks for details
Around the City
In Coimbatore Today
A mission to repaint road marks

Copyright © 2005, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu