Hyderabad: The number of cases booked for triple riding, cell phone driving and signal jumping have come down by over 50 per cent this year compared to previous year. The drop, however, is neither due to enhanced enforcement by the traffic cops nor because of improved compliance to rules by motorists.
The likely cause of the dip is, among others, is the traffic cops’ focus on drives against violation of specific rules like helmet rule violation. Consequently, the number of cases booked for helmet violation jump-ed from 1.34 lakh in 2015 to over 17 lakh in 2016.
During August and September this year, the traffic police was going slow on enforcement due to heavy rains. That was followed in November by demonitisation.
Indian Road Safety Federation Chief Functionary Mr Vinod Kumar Kanumala, said the drop cannot be taken as a benchmark to declare that violation of traffic rules has come down or compliance to rules has increased.
“A scientific study has to be done to check if violations are repeated by motorists, how many are first time violators and if they are given counseling. How the counselling helps needs to be seen,” he said.
Social worker TS Gupta said the number of helmet violation cases would go up by 100 per cent if traffic cops were to intensify the drive with many bikers driving without helmets. “Even the triple riding cases would be in large numbers if traffic cops enforce the rule strictly,” he said.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Mr A V Ranganath admitted that a fall in number of cases booked this year compared to previous year cannot be attributed to only enforcement or improvement in rule compliance.
