NEW DELHI: The Delhi traffic police on an average prosecute nearly 8,000 violators of traffic laws every day, but if the latest Institute of Road Traffic Education (IRTE) study is anything to go by it is not even a patch on the real picture.

According to the study supplemented with camera recordings, a whopping 146.2 million motorised violations are committed every day in the Capital's roads. Disclosing the findings here on Tuesday, IRTE president Rohit Baluja said there was "total crisis'' on the traffic front in the city.

"Though the drive against violators as per the High Court order is a good beginning, there are still gaps to be addressed," he added.

Conducted over two months, the study reveals that an estimated 33 million violations are not because of the driver's fault but happen due to faulty traffic engineering systems. Daily violations showed an increase of 36.2 million from that of last year, a pointer to the worsening situation.

The study, done by the Centre of Analysis and Research in Road Safety of IRTE, began by identifying the two most accident-prone areas in each of the nine districts of the Capital as per the Traffic Police Accident Report of 2004. The team randomly followed vehicles including buses, lorries and two, three and four-wheelers over a distance of 1-3 km in these areas and recorded their movements.

The team divided traffic violations into moving and parking violations as well as driver or passenger-related violations and vehicle or equipment-related violations. Moving violations included over-speeding, wrongful overtaking, driving in wrong lanes and others. The spot speed survey conducted by the team revealed blatant violations that happen at night. Violations pertaining to not wearing the helmet and seat belt and use of mobile phones while driving were also recorded.

The findings also pointed out the drawbacks in the road and traffic engineering aspects. Traffic control devices such as road markings, signs and signal violate the prescribed standards to a large extent, it said.

"Wherever traffic agencies are found to be violating rules, they should be held responsible," Mr. Baluja said.

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