CHENNAI: Violating the stop line on roads may soon become costlier for motorists. The simple violation that draws a Rs.50 as fine, will now be deemed as a dangerous driving practice and the traffic police can levy a hefty Rs.1,000 as fine.

The proposal to increase the fine is awaiting a formal go-ahead from the government, city police officials say. While random vehicle checks are conducted at all signal points during lean hours, the police are now forced to be more stringent with erring drivers, says Sunil Kumar, Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic), Chennai police.

The normal fine is Rs.50 for signal jumping, but the compounding fee for signal jumping, if done in a dangerous manner would be Rs.1,000, he said on Tuesday, adding all signal violations could now be deemed as dangerous driving.

Though all major automatic signals are manned by policemen, many motorists especially State-owned bus drivers ignored signals. This led to accidents, which often turned fatal or left victims with permanent disabilities.

This is what goaded the police to impose the new fine system, he said. Change in timings In another change, all the automatic signals in the city will start working an hour earlier in the morning and go on working for one hour extra in the night, due to increase in vehicles and the changes in traffic patterns. The signals would be switched on at 5 a.m. instead of 6 a.m., and would remain operational till 11 p.m. instead of 10 p.m., said Mr Kumar.

The timings had been programmed to ensure that vehicles would not have to wait at signals longer during the lean hours, he added.

Road safety enthusiasts say the police move will be welcome if the enforcement is done strictly and in unbiased manner so that all types of vehicles are booked for offences.

More than the imposition of fines, the police should step up vigilance particularly using its newly acquired Hyundai cars or the existing surveillance cameras. These cameras were installed nearly six years ago at key junctions, but do not seem to be a deterrent to violators.

Only if the police are seen to be using these cameras to book traffic offenders and also regularly disclose details of the outcomes of this vigilance would offenders feel deterred, safety activists say.

Source: The Hindu (Chennai-epaper)

Entry Filed under: Chennai Traffic News