Tamil Nadu - Coimbatore   

Fixing accountability for accidents

The Coimbatore Rural District Police have begun an exercise to fix accountability on the jurisdiction police officers for frequent accidents, writes V.S. Palaniappan

Highway patrol introduced by the State Government has helped reduce the number of accidents on arterial roads considerably. However, the rate of fatal accidents remains a cause for concern.

With a number of arterial roads, the district has mind-boggling statistics relating to loss of lives.

In the event of an accident, the police normally take rescue measures or arrange for shifting of bodies to the nearest hospital and register a case.

Now, the police should scientifically investigate the reasons for accidents.

If accidents take place at a particular spot frequently, the police should identify the reasons and present a report to the Sub-Division Headquarters and the District Police Office.

If there are deficiencies in road engineering, it will be taken up with the department concerned to alter the road design.

If it pertained to enforcement, the police should work to curb the accident rate on the stretch by tightening enforcement with the help of the Transport Department.

The objective is to tell the officers at the level of Sub-Inspectors, Inspectors and Deputy Superintendents of Police that the role of the police does not end with merely registering a case.

The roads under focus now include Pollachi Road, Palakkad Road, Sathyamangalam Road, Mettuppalayam Road, Tiruchi Road and Avanashi Road.

Inspectors should suggest remedial measures such as speed breakers, speed restrictions and so on.

The onus of interacting with the departments concerned and arranging for solutions will rest solely on the jurisdiction officer.

If the requirement is slightly higher, the District Police Office will write to the heads of the departments concerned.

For the first accident, the Inspector will be issued a yellow card and a memo.

For a second accident in the same place, he will be served a red card and a memo.

If there is another accident, the Inspector will be served a charge memo asking why action should not be initiated against him.

If a particular Station House Officer receives the charge memo, the Inspector will be subjected to punishment, which will range from transfer to even suspension.

"The objective is not to punish them, but to exert pressure on them to be proactive to prevent accidents," says R. Dhinakaran, Superintendent of Police, Coimbatore Rural District, who introduced this concept here. (He has now been transferred and posted as SP Theni district.)

A.G. Ponn Manickavel, who took over as the Superintendent of Police on Friday, said that the exercise would not only be sustained but also intensified.

According to the officials, the initiative has made them proactive and the results will be assessed over a period of time.

Instead of merely being punitive and task-oriented, the exercise has incentives too. Inspectors who show results will be rewarded.

Such a measure will definitely help fellow officers emulate them, they say.

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