The Hindu : Kerala News : Speed checks being regularly conducted Traffic in focus

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Kerala

Speed checks being regularly conducted Traffic in focus

Photo: H. Vibhu

AVOIDING TRAFFIC BLOCK: A scene from North Railway Overbridge. —

The speed limit applicable to the city must be strictly enforced by the traffic police. There has to be personnel at all important junctions to check overspeeding and overtaking by buses and other vehicles. During pea

k hours, city buses are causing traffic blocks at busy bus stops. The rules regarding parking on all the main roads such as M.G. Road , Chittoor Road , Banerji Road etc. has to be strictly enforced. Lastly, the traffic signals at some important junctions should be of longer duration.

Roy Chacko

roychacko@airtelmail.in We are now regularly conducting speed checks using the newly acquired speed radar. We have set up a committee to study and relocate the existing bus stops, which cause traffic bottlenecks. Removal of unauthorised parking is one the priority agendas of the police. The suggestion of extending time of the traffic signals is a valid one and we will study the same and implement if feasible.

It is seen in the absence of dividers in most junctions, the free left is not usable and negates the benefit of such a facility. Please see to it that free left is not hindered. Wherever possible the bus stop should b

e off road so that the buses stopping there do not hinder traffic.

Ranganathan

Punithura We have put up traffic dividers on the road at different areas of the city to mark the free lanes and we will continue to do so in more roads, but in many of the roads, there is not enough length to put up these dividers and at such places we are putting up white markings. We have set up a committee to study the bus shelters existing now and will soon be cutting down on bus stops within one km and those near the junctions.

Traffic rule violations by private buses, taxis, private cars, autorickshaws, two-wheelers have become a routine affair in the city, including along highways. It is suspected that the police are not taking action agai

nst the erring bus drivers or autorickshaw drivers, because these vehicles mostly belong to police personnel. Thammanam-Pullepady road should be opened for traffic and extended to Seaport-Airport road. This will reduce the traffic congestion in Palarivattom, S.A. Road, Vyttila, and M.G. Road.

V. Venkitasubramanian

Thammanam It is a general myth among the public that many of the buses and autorickshaws are owned by policemen. The financial status of the policeman has never been good. Actually Kochi City is a place where we have a record performance in traffic enforcement. One of the few places where helmet, seat belts rules are enforced. We detect more than 10,000 cases per month and almost 3,000-4,000 cases of these are against autorickshaws and buses. We fully support the opening of the Thammanam- Pullepady road, but the department has limited role in this regard.

Either policemen or traffic wardens should be posted at Petta Junction, Gandhi Square, Irumpupalam and at Petta-Thripunithura (Panamkutti Paalam), as they are accident-prone areas. All the vehicles coming from Thripu

nithura to Ernakulam, Vyttila-Edappally, are plying through Petta.

S.N. Thiruvazhiode

Poonithura We are actually designing a new plan for Petta junction with manual signal lights and a few changes in the existing bus bays and hopefully this will come up in the next one month.

The design has already been approved and we hope that this would sort out the traffic problem at Petta to a great extent.

Let me first congratulate you for the steps taken against drunken driving. I totally support you for the stern action, but what worries me is that the police treat each and every driver like a drunkard. The policemen

come close to your face and ask questions in the most rude and arrogant manner.

Somi Joseph

somijoseph@gmail.com We have time and again instructed officers in the traffic department to be on decent behaviour at all times and now we have supplied a new instrument called alcometer to avoid such incidents of people being asked to breathe into the face of the policeman.

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