The Hindu : New Delhi News : Focus on traffic management

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Saturday, Feb 14, 2009
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New Delhi

New Delhi

Focus on traffic management

With the phenomenal increase in the number of vehicles on the Capital’s roads, managing traffic has indeed become a daunting task for the traffic police. What is adding to the woes of the over-stressed traffic cops are “incorrigible offenders”.

By this Thursday, the traffic police had prosecuted 19,343 motorists for dangerous driving since New Year’s Day compared to 11,553 during the corresponding period last year. In all, 11,257 motorists were challaned for Stop-line violations as against 3,783 last year and 18,903 for over-speeding as against 16,678 in 2008. According to police statistics, 3,499 motorcyclists were challaned for triple riding compared with 1,956 and 1,108 for drunken driving as against 561 last year.

Though the sharp increase in the number of violations has come to light because of a special drive launched by the traffic police, the data makes it pretty clear that there has not been much of a change in the behaviour of most road users.

During a recent interaction with the media, Delhi Police Commissioner Y. S. Dadwal rightly pointed out that self-regulation could resolve most of the traffic woes. But the idea of self-control seems an alien concept for the average road user in the Capital, which is perhaps why the police have to initiate frequent drives and take stern action against the violators.

However, given the limited resources of the traffic police, it will be difficult for them to continue such drives throughout the year. Also, many police officers feel that only prosecution will not instil a sense of self-regulation in the public mind, until people understand that it is for their own safety.

While errant road users need to mend their ways, the police should also take measures to address their woes. It has been noticed on many occasions that barricades erected for routine checking are left abandoned on the roads after the exercise is over leading to endless jams. Similarly concrete stones that come loose off the central verge of the roads, or are deliberately removed for some civil work, often pose a major threat to motorists in the fast lane.

At several places there is an immediate need for removal of the central verge. A case in point is National Highway-24 near the Commonwealth Games Village where the carriageway going from Ring Road to Akshardham flyover is segregated in the middle. Whenever a vehicle breaks down on either of the two double-lanes, it becomes a bottleneck as the road space gets reduced by 50 per cent.

As per statistics, a whopping 75,753 challans have been issued for improper parking this year so far compared with 28,470 last year, indicating that there is a severe shortage of parking areas in the Capital. Given the fact that mere prosecution will not serve the purpose, steps should be taken to provide ample parking lots to counter this grave problem.

In view of the Commonwealth Games-2010, Delhi’s traffic management is undergoing a major transformation. However, the authorities concerned must take a holistic view of the problem rather than restrict themselves only to areas that will be part of the grand show.

Devesh K. Pandey

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