Tamil Nadu - Coimbatore   

Violation of road rules

Despite enforcement drives, heavy vehicle drivers seem to show scant regard for road rules, writes V.S. Palaniappan

The final year students of the Bachelor of Corporate Secretaryship of PSG College of Arts and Science have done a study on road accidents in the city with special reference to buses.

The study has concluded that the police should focus more on bus and truck drivers, who seemed to cause a majority of the accidents.

Heavy vehicle drivers should be subject to frequent speed trap and signal jumping checks. The students suggested installation of speed breakers along complexes, educational institutions and hospitals besides road-junctions.

The drive against violation of road rules in the last one year has helped bring down the accident rate and brought in discipline on roads, says a senior police officer heading the enforcement drives.

Motorists, however, say that none of these efforts seem to have any effect on the drivers of trucks and buses.

Because of inadequate running time, bus drivers tend to speed on arterial roads and show impatience even before the signal turns green.

The drivers say that they have too many bus stops and signals besides narrow pathways that take up more time.

To avoid a situation of getting delayed in every trip, they tend to flout rules.

Similarly, loopholes in the enforcement mechanism has resulted in truck drivers accessing city roads even during peak hours when their entry is actually banned.

These drivers say that they will prefer to pay the fine for the violation rather than lose precious hours waiting for the peak hours to end.

In a growing city with narrow roads, satellite bus terminus for one or two arterial roads such as the ones in Ukkadam and Singanallur will help filter the entry of mofussil buses into the city.

But to the dismay of traffic managers and motorists, even the Singanallur bus terminus (meant for buses ex-Coimbatore on Tiruchy Road and Avanashi Road) is yet to be put to optimum use.

The study by the students has suggested that the driving licence and the vehicle permit of the bus/truck drivers should be suspended or cancelled, if they are caught frequently for violation or reckless driving.

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