Traffic rules flouted more during festivals

IIIT-H study reveals city habits ■ STUDENTS AND the professor visited Ahmedabad to analyse traffic data which they claim can help curb road accidents.

Jumping a red traffic signal is the norm for people of this country, says a study conducted by IIIT Hyderabad.

The study involved 60odd students of Prof Ponnurangam Kumaraguru, an associate professor at Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology, Delhi and current adjunct faculty at IIITH.

The research paper is titled ‘Don't Cross that Stop Line: Characterising Traffic Violations in Metropolitan Cities’.

The students and the professor visited Ahmedabad in Gujarat to analyse traffic data which they claim can help rein in the number of road accidents which often occur due to violating traffic rules.

Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, the professor said: “It was a very interesting study; we are now trying to get data from other cities to study their traffic policing patterns.”

He said that of traffic challans amounting to `80 crore, only `21 crore has been paid.

“We learnt that challans worth `75 were paid but those worth `50 were unpaid. As we see it, people who have a challan of lower value do not check the website, as they consider this amount to be insignificant,” he said.

Traffic offences were more likely to be committed during religious festivals or some major event in the city, the study found.

“With these findings, the police can get a sense of the violations that are taking place and the locations where they are happening. It will help them in planning where they should dispatch their officers. In fact, this kind of data can even be used for city planning. The answer to the question 'how do I design my roads' can actually come from this,” says Prof Kumaraguru. With the new Motor Vehicles Act (Amendment) 2019 coming into effect on September 1, 2019, and its focus on enhancement of penalties for driving errors as well as violating other road regulations, such an analysis would be crucial.