Are traffic violators ever punished in Second Capital of Mah?!
   Date :19-Sep-2022

Are traffic violators 
 
 
 
By Kartik Lokhande
IN any city, the flow of traffic on roads reflects societal culture and administrative efficiency. In case of Nagpur, it seems that violation of traffic rules has become a societal culture and failure to create deterrence in the minds of such violators a mark of administrative ‘efficiency’.
Almost every day, accidents occur on city roads. However, in the past few days, two accidents on flyover have stirred the public consciousness. In both the cases, speeding vehicles entered wrong lane in a bid to overtake other vehicles, and collided head-on with vehicles coming from opposite direction. In both these accidents, precious lives were lost. Among other aspects, what came out very prominently was that the speeding vehicles entered wrong lane, that too, on flyover.
Sadly, this has become a dangerous reality of city traffic. Name any area, and one can find people openly flouting traffic norms and vehicles moving ‘wrong side’. May it be posh Dhantoli area, or Dharampeth, or Sitabuldi, or Tajbagh, or Trimurti Nagar... Everywhere, the law-abiding Nagpurians are always under the fear that someone driving/riding vehicle ‘wrong side’ may bump onto them. In the stretch from Rahate Colony Square to Lokmat Square, daily the Traffic Control Branch can add to its revenue by recovering fine from at least a 100 vehicle drivers/riders moving wrong side.
Similarly, the daily number of violators who could be fined may be more in case of Trimurti Nagar. Interestingly, people are not afraid of moving wrong side right from Trimurti Nagar Square to old Nagoba Mandir Square, irrespective of the fact that Rana Pratap Nagar Police Station is located midway in NIT Garden. In fact, on a lot of occasions, including at night, one can see such violators moving wrong side even as policemen are present on road. The police constables, unofficially, tell a curious soul that traffic cops are empowered to take action in such cases. Similarly hopeless is the situation on road stretch from Matey Square to IT Park, where road width is already reduced because of food stalls and haphazard parking by ‘foodies’, who do not mind moving wrong side even when traffic density is heavy in the evening hours.
This tendency of moving wrong side has been emboldened because there is not deterrence in the mind of such violators. Since the installation of so-called advanced surveillance system in the form of closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras, the presence of traffic cops at important junctions and in areas with dense flow of traffic has reduced drastically. Except for the days of VIP movement, traffic cops are rarely seen on city roads. At a few locations where they are seen, they are busy either chatting among themselves or checking WhatsApp, while stopping a couple of violators intermittently and randomly.
Surprisingly, CCTV cameras have proven to be a failure in creating deterrence among traffic rule violators. If the CCTV camera feeds are monitored seriously, and the enforcers ensure that most violators are punished, the police machinery can rightfully earn a huge revenue. But, the law enforcers appear to be disinterested in earning revenue for public exchequer from the violators. As has become the popular belief, in the last few months of a financial year, traffic cops become suddenly active and issue challans, probably to rush to meet the revenue targets. After this particular period, the violators have a free run. Of course, action is taken against some violators to show efficiency on record. However, compared to the number of violators that law-abiding citizens come across daily on city roads in different parts of the city, the ‘on record’ action is negligible.
Overall, there is a widely prevalent perception that traffic rule violators are not punished in the city of Nagpur. At least after the recent two accidents, law-abiding citizens (not violators) of Nagpur has sincere expectations from the authorities to act tough against traffic rule violators and impound licences in a few dozens of cases to set a precedent. Else, more people may lose their life. It is high time to fix responsibility for growing tendency of traffic rule violations. Will the city see some serious action on this front? The authorities need to answer this question with positive action in larger public interest, without wasting time.