Chennai traffic police 'adopt' 65 hotspots in a bid to ease the woes of motorists

CHENNAI: The Chennai city traffic police have started a new initiative of ‘adopting a road’ in a bid to ease the woes of motorists. In the first phase, the city police are targeting 65 hotspots like accident-prone junctions, areas with heavy traffic congestion and bottlenecks due to illegal encroachments.

It was yet another busy week for Inspector Ramesh and his team. Apart from the usual traffic regulation and checking violations, they erected reflective sign boards, flash lights to warn of median breaks, extended the stone median and laid huge unmovable barricades to slow down traffic.

“Usually this work is shared with at least three different departments dragging out the process for several days. To paint a speed breaker and zebra crossing, the concerned departments ask for days of paperwork and it is not completed even after constant pestering,” said a police officer.

“Though the improvements may look small, we have put in a lot of effort so that it helps motorists. Last week, we adopted a stretch of 500 metres where we installed new signboards for motorists who are confused which way to go. We also installed flash lights on median breaks and accident prone junctions to warn the motorists and reflective sign boards on one-way roads along heavy barricades so that people do not move them when police are not around. We also painted the pedestrian crossing,” says Inspector Ramesh from Poonamallee Traffic Enforcement.

The first few hundred metres at the beginning of Poonamallee High Road, which were filled with illegally parked heavy vehicles and a series of encroachments, have been cleared within a week, creating more space on a stretch with heavy traffic.

Speaking to The New Indian Express, Dr N Kannan, Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic), said the initiative is part of the public-police bonding, where the cops note down important stretches which need a makeover and, with the help of residents and shopkeepers there, make them much safer.

"We have analysed and noted down 65 important stretches in the city which are prone to accidents or traffic bottlenecks. Police personnel of the concerned jurisdictions make changes on the stretch and report back. They should also ensure that the improvements to the stretch are maintained,” added Kannan.

Talking about the initiative taken by the police, advocate Suresh Souli said the law says that police and other road related departments like RTO, highways and corporation are allowed to take care of the roads in general.

“We have to see if the decision is taken after consulting the public living around the area where changes are being made. This initiative undertaken by the police is based on public-police bonding and it is the duty of the senior police officers to check how it is implemented at the ground level,” says Suresh.