Call for sustained drive as Pune cops catch 186 rash drivers
Rujuta Parekh | TNN | Updated: Mar 17, 2019, 06:39 IST
The Pune traffic police registered 186 cases of rash driving in the city in the last three days ending Saturday. PUNE: The Pune traffic police registered 186 cases of rash driving in the city in the last three days ending Saturday, the number which citizens claimed was too little and too far from reality.
“Wrong-side driving is rampant on most city roads. The situation demands greater deployment of traffic police personnel and regular drives against rule violators. Intermittent actions tend to yield no result as people return to old ways,” Prasanna Parmar, a student, said.
The 186 cases were registered under Section 279 of the Indian Penal Code (rash and negligent driving). Besides, the Pune traffic police have also taken up engineering interventions like closing of road punctures to deter motorists from indulging in wrong-side driving in many areas.
In the Deccan area, over 10 wrong-side drivers were caught in just 20 minutes in the Venus Traders lane on Saturday afternoon. The lane, which allows one-way movement of traffic from Apte Road to FC Road, was among the few in the area witnessing rampant wrong-side driving.
“Many rule violators caught by us started arguing that taking a detour around Wrangler Paranjape street and Apte Road was time consuming,” an officer from the Deccan traffic division said.
A rider nearly knocked down a traffic police personnel when the latter tried to stop the vehicle in the lane. “There is a traffic jam on the main road and I had been stuck there for 15 minutes. You should go and sort the mess there instead of standing in the bylane,” the two-wheeler rider told the police personnel in the presence of the TOI team.
Some violators even asked the traffic police if they could continue to their destination in the lane after paying the fine. When a youth riding a non-geared vehicle was stopped, he instantly took out his cellphone to call his father and demanded that the officer speak to him.
Speaking about traffic indiscipline, Samaiirah from Safe Road Foundation said, “Self-discipline is necessary to bring down the rate of traffic rule violations. Having said that, enforcement should also be better. There must be fear of getting caught among people.”
Samaiirah said processes, such as direct deduction of fines from violators’ bank accounts, may help. “The vehicle registration number must be linked with the bank account and Aadhaar card of people so that the fine is automatically deducted when s/he is found flouting traffic rules as e-challans have failed to serve the purpose of creating fear of the law,” she said.
“Wrong-side driving is rampant on most city roads. The situation demands greater deployment of traffic police personnel and regular drives against rule violators. Intermittent actions tend to yield no result as people return to old ways,” Prasanna Parmar, a student, said.
The 186 cases were registered under Section 279 of the Indian Penal Code (rash and negligent driving). Besides, the Pune traffic police have also taken up engineering interventions like closing of road punctures to deter motorists from indulging in wrong-side driving in many areas.
In the Deccan area, over 10 wrong-side drivers were caught in just 20 minutes in the Venus Traders lane on Saturday afternoon. The lane, which allows one-way movement of traffic from Apte Road to FC Road, was among the few in the area witnessing rampant wrong-side driving.
“Many rule violators caught by us started arguing that taking a detour around Wrangler Paranjape street and Apte Road was time consuming,” an officer from the Deccan traffic division said.
A rider nearly knocked down a traffic police personnel when the latter tried to stop the vehicle in the lane. “There is a traffic jam on the main road and I had been stuck there for 15 minutes. You should go and sort the mess there instead of standing in the bylane,” the two-wheeler rider told the police personnel in the presence of the TOI team.
Some violators even asked the traffic police if they could continue to their destination in the lane after paying the fine. When a youth riding a non-geared vehicle was stopped, he instantly took out his cellphone to call his father and demanded that the officer speak to him.
Speaking about traffic indiscipline, Samaiirah from Safe Road Foundation said, “Self-discipline is necessary to bring down the rate of traffic rule violations. Having said that, enforcement should also be better. There must be fear of getting caught among people.”
Samaiirah said processes, such as direct deduction of fines from violators’ bank accounts, may help. “The vehicle registration number must be linked with the bank account and Aadhaar card of people so that the fine is automatically deducted when s/he is found flouting traffic rules as e-challans have failed to serve the purpose of creating fear of the law,” she said.
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