Drive carefully, cops to go into overdrive from Feb 1

Monday, January 19, 2009
Source:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com


Get ready to drive better from February 1. Delhi Police commissioner YS Dadwal, on Friday, announced that the traffic police are going to
start heavy prosecution for all road offences starting February 1.

"To bring about order on Delhi roads, the traffic police will start intensive challaning from February 1,'' said police commissioner YS Dadwal. To make this possible, the number of traffic patrol motor cycles is being doubled from the present 210 bikes to 420 bikes and 50 more Police Control Room (PCR) vans with traffic staff added to Delhi roads by February 15. The decision was taken after cops felt that the `chase and challan' scheme has proved to be an effective means of controlling road violations.

The police is now looking at an integration of traffic police and PCR units and a step forward towards this is the introduction of 50 more PCR vans on traffic duties. The main benefit, said Dadwal, is that all the vans are fitted with Global Positioning System (GPS) making their locations easy to track. So when they are needed to attend an emergency call, they can immediately be tracked at the control room and rushed to the scene of crime. For the rest of the time, they can serve as force multipliers for the traffic police.

About 1,500 more personnel have also been added to the short-staffed traffic wing for more presence on the roads and thereby better enforcement.

Even as cops will be posted on the roads in full strength from February 1 to prosecute all those breaking rules and driving recklessly, the top cop feels only prosecution is not a solution. He added: "The solution to Delhi's traffic problems lies in self regulation and not just stepping up prosecution. We need to realise that what we do to other drivers by driving carelessly can also happen to us. The day this realisation comes, the Capital will become a better place to drive in.''

When asked what is being done to improve the quality of enforcement at the lower levels and weed out corruption, Dadwal further said: "Strict action is taken against errant officials from time to time. In fact, since last year, more than two-third of the faces seen in the traffic police force are new.''

In the first 16 days of the new year, the traffic police have prosecuted over 1.35 lakh vehicles in drives all over the city. Last year, over 26 lakh challans were issued for varied offences. A fall out of this was a reduction in the number of accidents and resultant road deaths.