Cops crackdown on low floor buses in Jaipur
FLOUTING NORMS Police have issued 208 challans to lowfloor buses from May 1 to May 8 JAIPUR:
The traffic department of the Jaipur Police has cracked down on low-floor buses operating in the city. They have issued 208 challans to the low-floor buses from May 1 to May 8.
The traffic department has issued 25 challans for speeding, 20 for driving without a licence, 52 for parking in no-parking zones, 12 for jumping the red light and four for overloading, all within a span of eight days.
“We keep conducting such initiatives from time to time. We had conducted a similar drive for battery-operated e-rickshaws recently as well,” DCP traffic Lovely Katiyar said.
When asked whether the crackdown is in response to the recent accidents involving lowfloor buses, she said, “I am yet to receive details of these cases. There’s no particular reason we are doing this. It is a routine activity that we undertake to improve the traffic scenario in the city.”
Katiyar said the drive will continue.
In order to avoid road accidents, the police are also coming down heavily on those found speeding. DCP Katiyar said that if someone is found driving at a speed of 65 in a speed limit zone of 60, the police issue the perpetrator an advisory. However, anyone found speeding between 65 and 100 is issued a challan. An FIR is registered against those found speeding above 100 and their vehicle is also seized.
“We have requested the judiciary not to give bail to those caught speeding before they spend at least one day in jail. The court agreed and people are not being let off easily. The judiciary cancelled many such bail applications recently,” Katiyar said.
Last year, the Centre issued directives to all state governments to ensure that by 2020, road fatalities are reduced by 50%. Jaipur Police’s initiatives have led to a 20% reduction in deaths caused due to road accidents. While road accidents have taken 128 lives from January 1 to April 30 in 2017, this year the toll for the same period stands at 103. The total number of accidents in the same period has also dropped from 643 to 636.
Katiyar said that the city’s Intelligent Traffic Management system (ITMS), started from March 1, 2017, has also started yielding results. Under the initiative, cameras were installed at JLN Marg to monitor speeding vehicles. Cameras were also positioned at MI Road to track those who jump the red light.
According to data given by the traffic police, while 96 cases of speeding at JLN Marg were registered from January 1 to April 30 last year, this year the number stands at 75 this year.
To ensure that people do not flout traffic rules, the police have started issuing challans more frequently. While 9,476 challans were issued for speeding in the first four months last year, 25,615 have been booked this year. For the same period, 2,801 challans were issued last year for drunk driving. This year, the number has shot up to 6,149.
“Our motive is to ensure people’s safety on the roads. Whatever steps we are taking, we are doing to reduce the number of road accidents. We don’t want people to get hurt or die on the road,” DCP Katiyar said.