Riding without helmet and illegal parking on pavements and in no-parking zones constitute 55.3% of the total complaints reported on the Public Eye app, which allows citizens to take photos of motorists violating road rules and report them to the Bengaluru Traffic Police (BTP).
The initiative of the Bengaluru Traffic Police (BTP) and Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship Democracy, was launched in 2015 and has, over the years, aggregated a total of 1.26 lakh app downloads with 24,222 active users and a total of 3,28,441 complaints.
Last year, through the app, citizens recorded 1.52 lakh complaints.
In a press release on Thursday, Janaagraha said that as many as 2.27 lakh complaints have been effectively resolved in the last four years. There are 13 categories of violations listed on Public Eye for citizens to report, which include jumping signals and riding on pavements.
Since the app was launched, the maximum number of complaints were reported from Shanthala Nagara – 14,092 complaints have been registered from this ward. ‘Riding without helmet’ is the category under which most of the complaints were reported.
Bellandur, which is second in the list, recorded 11,504 complaints. The the maximum number of complaints were about motorists riding in the wrong direction on one-way roads and not adhering to no-entry signs. Koramangala was third with 10,293 complaints. Here too, riding without helmet was the most common complaint.
Sapna Karim, head, Civic Participation, Janaagraha, in a press release, said, “The Bengaluru Traffic Police go through each complaint. If the violation and the vehicle registration details are captured clearly, the violator is booked.”
Most complaints in 2019
Last year, Public Eye recorded the highest number of complaints with a 150% increase in reporting of violations when compared with 2018.
“The app effectively captures traffic violations and actively supports the Bengaluru Traffic Police. Data highlights that the average number of complaints posted every day on Public Eye has seen a steady rise over the years. This is a clear testimony to a rise in active citizenship. While in 2018, the daily average was 166, in 2019, the daily average has reached 417 complaints,” said B.R. Ravikanthe Gowda, Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic).