Traffic violations not down to cops but down to individual responsibility: Expert

Chandra Prabhu | NT

Bengaluru: As of January this year, around 6,000 driving licenses in Bengaluru were cancelled for traffic violations.

Data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) suggest that most of the accidents across the state are caused by two wheelers.

Despite strict regulations, enforcement of the law and advanced cameras being installed, the arterial roads in the city sees traffic rules being continuously flouted and ignored.

Helmetless riding, wrong way riding, signal jumping, stunt biking and overloading of two-wheelers are a common sight, especially after dusk.

Mobility expert and government advisor on traffic and transportation MN Sreehari, stressed the lack of individual responsibility.

"That is the root cause of such behaviour, as people never think twice before flouting the rules, and putting their and others' lives in danger,” he added.

The expert also claimed that it’s the young drivers and riders, aged 20 to 35, who are the least responsible on the road. "They wear helmets just to avoid being caught by the cops, rather to be safe," he said further recounting certain incidents where bikers were caught wearing hallowedout watermelon and paper bags to coid getting caught by the cameras.

However such violators forget that the images captured by the cameras will be reviewed by the police before issuing a fine to them.

"This depicts the mentality of the public, even after the introduction of stricter laws," he added.

Scanty respect for cops, who put in extra hours

When pointing out the lack of enforcement in a few instances, Sreehari claimed that the traffic cops in Bengaluru put in extra hours to curb violations.

"Countries in the west don’t have cops deployed for such instances, and in India, we have only one policeman for 800 citizens, which is the sad reality," he stated.

To solve such issues Sreehari suggested the government to revamp the rules.

"The authorities need to be given more power to control these violators and some serious awareness is needed to wake up such people," he asserted.

Officials in the Traffic Management Centre (TMC) told News Trail that the installation of cameras under the Intelligent Traffic Management System (ITMS) has been continuing to book cases against the violators.

"The department is seriously working on to bring in laws to curb traffic violations here in a phased manner. Currently, we are working to completely ban the use of half helmets soon,” a senior traffic official told News Trail.