The Hindu : Separate wing for traffic enforcement proposed

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Aug 04, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Kerala

Separate wing for traffic enforcement proposed

By G. Anand

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM Aug. 3. The State police have proposed the setting up of a separate Traffic Wing for the effective enforcement of motor vehicle rules and road safety norms, it is learnt.

Top police sources said the proposed Traffic Wing would be organised on the lines of the Crime Branch and Special Branch with a separate head of account for budgetary allocation. The IG (Traffic and Armed Police Battalion), Vinson. M. Paul, has finalised the proposal for the Traffic Wing which is pending approval of the State Government.

The proposal assumes significance in the wake of the Government decision's to introduce a Road Safety Bill in the Assembly soon.

The Bill envisages the establishment of a Road Safety Fund for the execution of road safety programmes and constitution of a Road Safety Authority to administer the fund and ensure the coordination of all Government agencies involved in road safety work. The Director General of Police will be a member of the authority.

The police sources said that an officer in the rank of IG would be given exclusive charge of the proposed Traffic Wing. He will be assisted by two Superintendents of Police (Traffic Wing) for South and North police zones.

In every district, a sub-divisional officer will be posted as Dy.SP (Traffic). However, the district SPs and Commissioners of Police in metro cities will continue to be in charge of traffic enforcement at the cutting edge level.

``The Road Safety Bill proposes that the amount of surcharge collected under Section 25 A of the Kerala Motor Vehicle Taxation Act and the compounding fee collected under Section 200 of the MV Act among other fines be credited into the Road Safety Fund which will be used for carrying out traffic safety measures by the Road Safety Authority. The fund would enable the proposed wing of police to undertake accident black spot analysis, recommend the implementation of road safety measures and procure necessary infrastructure for traffic enforcement,'' an official pointed out.

The Traffic wing will also be entrusted with the training of traffic constables, procurement of infrastructure needed for enforcement, development of new accident reporting form, etc. among other tasks.

Police officials said that traffic accidents constituted more than 40 per cent of the cases registered in the State. Official figures show that this year till May 31, 2003, as many as 1,222 persons were killed in 16, 293 road accidents. In 2002, 2,792 persons were killed in a total of 38,762 road accidents reported in the State.

Over-speeding, drunken driving, bad road conditions, lack of traffic signals, unscientific traffic management and negligence on the part of road users were pointed out as the main causes for the accidents.

However, traffic enforcement continues to be an uphill task for the State police. Only eight districts in the State had traffic police stations. The strength of the traffic constabulary has been augmented little since 1971.

The speed analysing radars procured by the police at a cost of Rs 1.5 lakhs from the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) in 1997 are in state of disrepair. None of the breath analysers with police are in working order.

The police is also facing difficulty in maintaining the existing infrastructure procured under the modernisation scheme due to lack of budgetary allocation to meet recurrent expenses, an official said.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Southern States

News Update

Stories in this Section

BJP says 'no' to vote-bank `hijacking'

Finance panel report: delay may prove costly

India's first computer-literate village

Priority for sanitation in Sabarimala

Excise Dept. dodges House panel

Biotechnology Mission: Cabinet to study report

Separate wing for traffic enforcement proposed