Archive for April, 2007
April 30th, 2007
Case 1: April 27 night: A car with five youths rammed into the median and an electric pole on the Bangalore-Mysore road, near Maddur, killing two and seriously injuring three.
Case 2: A manager of a media house mowed down three GPO employees near Minsk Square two months ago. The driver was allegedly drunk and fled the scene after the mishap. All the three employees, returning to their office after dinner, were killed on the spot.
Case 3: Traffic sub-inspector Arun Kumar was knocked down by a speeding SUV during a regular checking on Cubbon Road last year. This driver too managed to escape.
Accidents, deaths and injuries continue to be on the rise and the accident pattern has one common reason — reckless driving. Every year, police book over a lakh cases for dangerous driving and overspeeding but lessons are not learnt. While the onus is on the motorists/drivers, the police also have a major role to play.
Explains DCP, traffic (east division) M A Saleem: “Enforcement is easier in cities but difficult on the outskirts and highways.”
“Police presence, checks and balances, including barricading and signal lights are more in the city while it is difficult to have policemen all along the long stretches on the outskirts. In Cubbon Park police limits, during 2006, only one person died due to accident. It was due to strict enforcement.’’
Police say utilisation of technology would help in a great deal in this regard. Enforcement cameras will help track the offenders. In the city, five enforcement cameras will be installed in a few months time, Saleem said. On the highways, there should be check points at regular intervals and speed cameras, they say.
Rural police alert as well
After the strict implementation of drunk and drive checks in the city, drag race culture has shifted to rural areas. The police are also aware of this.
“We have information about big scale parties, if not rave party, being hosted in rural limits. In fact, just three days back the Kunigal police had taken 26 youngsters into custody at a farmhouse between Kunigal and Nelamangala,’’ Bangalore rural superintendent of police Srinivas said. Police feel drag races were common after such parties at farm houses.
Source: TOI (epaper)
April 27th, 2007
Mumbai: The spate of accidents on the city’s roads continues. A Honda City car rammed into a motorcycle on the Western Express Highway on Thursday morning, killing the pillion rider. The biker was hurt.
The impact of the collision was so severe that it sent the bike hurtling across the road. Basavraj Manekar (30), a chauffeur who was at the car’s wheel, has been booked for rash driving and causing death due to negligence.
According to the police, the incident occurred around 11.50 am below the Andheri flyover bridge. Mohammad Sadiq Hussain (25) and Zakir Hussain Jameel Ansari (24) were on the bike, driving under the bridge. Manekar was on the bridge, headed in the direction of Vile Parle.
“The car, which had gathered speed on the descent, reached the end of the flyover around the same time as the bike. Manekar could not control the vehicle and rammed the bike from behind,” said a police officer. The bike careened for several metres before ending up beneath a Best bus. Police officers said Manekar came forward to help the victims. The duo were taken to Cooper hospital where Ansari was declared dead before admission.
In a separate incident, on Wednesday, a Tata Sumo ferrying a group of call centre workers home, toppled over after hitting a traffic island on the Western Express highway at Goregaon. The driver and four employees were injured.
Source: TOI(Delhi epaper)
April 27th, 2007
AN AUTORICKSHAW ride could soon cost you 50 per cent more than what you are paying right now. A bus ride in the city could cost a minimum of Rs 5, no matter how short your journey is. The Delhi cabinet will notify an increase in the fares of autorickshaws, taxis and buses in the first week of May after it goes through the , recommendations of the Fare Fixation Committee it had constituted last year.
The committee, having finalised its report, will present it to the Delhi government on May 1. Delhi’s Transport Minister Haroon Yusuf told HT: “We have got inputs from all quarters and a rationalisation of the fare structure will be done next week.”
The autorickshaw fare hike is expected to be the stiffest, rising by at least 50 per cent of the current rates, according to sources in the government. Currently, the charge is Rs 8 for the first kilometre and Rs 3.50 for every subsequent kilometre. The Fare Fixation Committee has recommended a uniform minimum of Rs 5-6 per km.
For black-and-yellow taxis, the existing fare is Rs 13 for the first km and Rs 7 for every subsequent km. The new rate is likely to be a flat Rs 10 per km. The fare for the Radio Taxis, at Rs 15 per km, will remain unchanged.
Bus fares of the DTC and private operators will be either Rs 5 or Rs 10. All other ticket denominations will be done away with. The lower fare will be charged for the first 8 km. It has been recommended that a bus be allowed to run maximum 16 km each way on its route.
Yusuf said the fare hike had become necessary with CNG becoming costlier. DTC officials said the hike in the price of CNG last year was costing the corporation an additional Rs 9 crore every month.
Source: Hindustantimes.com(Delhi epaper)
April 26th, 2007
Kolkata: Impromptu parking zones in front of schools leave drivers at their wits’ end and throw traffic out of gear twice every day.
For those who have a school in their neighbourhood, life turns into a nightmare twice every day.
Every morning and afternoon — when the children troop in and out — the areas turns into hell and traffic goes haywire. Irrespective of the width of the road in front of the school, three-lane or four-lane parking zones spring up. Kolkata Police’s traffic department ranks school parking as the city’s greatest traffic woe.
Most schools are located on major thoroughfares and arterial roads and these part-time illegal car parks make commuting a hellish experience for those living in these areas. Chaos prevails every day on Rawdon Street, Loudon Street and AJC Bose Road, with cars making a beeline to drop children at the two La Martiniere schools. “The snarl apart, the noise, too, is unbearable. A hospital is located nearby. Yet, guardians of children just honk their way into the school. It is a nightmare passing along any of these streets before or after school,” said Asok Trivedi, a local resident.
The situation is more acute these days as school buses have largely been replaced by car pools, which pick up children from their doorsteps and drop them back home. The problem has been compounded as the number of cars have been increasing as well. This compounds the problem and has a direct bearing on the problem of traffic snarls, said chief traffic and transportation engineer B K Sadhu.
DC (traffic) Jawed Shamim said, “This is the single largest problem we are facing right now. It can be solved to a large extent if schools cooperate with us. In spite of having enough space inside, schools do not allow cars to park there for more than 10 to 15 minutes.” If only schools whose timings clash with office hours alter their routine, half the problem would be solved, felt another traffic police officer.
St Thomas School has a huge open space inside its compound. Earlier, cars and buses were allowed to park inside. But authorities aped other schools and prohibited parking inside. Now, they do not even allow teachers to park their cars inside. So all vehicles for students and teachers are parked outside, blocking the tram tracks and carriageway. Traffic police officers say it is a harrowing task for them to maintain traffic flow every day.
Police are compelled to be lenient as towing away vehicles for violating traffic laws may complicate matters. There might be a noisy protest. Moreover, children would be stranded, which is undesirable. So, we allow multiple lane parking in front of schools for some time.
Source: TOI(KOlkata epaper)
April 26th, 2007
Bangalore: The handling of traffic violations in New Delhi and Bangalore make for a study of contrasts despite having similar tales of woe. Both cities have the highest number of vehicles and grapple with similar traffic problems. However, while New Delhi has handled the same by delegating responsibility to staff lower in the hierarchy, Bangalore is still seeking solutions.
Delhi High Court recently empowered traffic head constables to issue challans and levy penalties against violators. The order was passed given the growing vehicle population and high number of offences in the national capital.
Interestingly, Bangalore tops the number of traffic-related offences nationwide, yet empowering traffic cops is not seen as a step forward here.
A minimum of 5,000 traffic violations take place in Bangalore every day. Yet, only a subinspector and officers of higher rank can issue challans and levy spot fines. However, on M G Road and Brigade Road, constables note down the offence and bring it to the notice of their seniors without initiating action. To tackle the problem, the traffic police will be equipped with BlackBerry handsets soon. “Lower-rung officials — from constables to assistant sub-inspectors — could only note down a field traffic violation report (FTVR). This was sent to the automation centre. Now, we are trying to catch defaulters with the help of BlackBerries, which will be introduced by the end of the month,’’ DCP east (traffic) M A Saleem told TOI.
However, there are apprehensions that this could lead to more corruption. “Traffic woes in Delhi are different from those here. Giving constables or head constables the powers to issue challan would create new problems. No other developing country has a spot-fine system. Instead, we need exclusive levy collection centres to make a difference,’’ a traffic official said.
The 250 BlackBerries will be used only by sub-inspectors and their seniors. These will work in tandem with a central server. “Black-Berry also helps reduce corruption as a receipt for the fine is issued to the offender on the spot and this will simultaneously be recorded by the central server. The fine amount for each violation will be stored on the handset. Moreover, repeat violators will get three times higher fine automatically calculated using the stored data,’’ DCP Saleem said.
Source: TOI(Bangalore epaper)
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