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| Adding more traffic cops unlikely to reduce level of road mishaps | | | Gareeb Dass
Jammu | May 29
After having slept over the matter during the last over 20 years the state Government has decided to nearly double the strength of the force in the traffic department. Over 600 traffic cops are to be added to the department in order to ensure that the level of road accidents registered a marked decline. On the face of it the idea of strengthening the traffic department is sound. But while adding more than 600 cops to the traffic police force the Government has to take into account factors that have been responsible for increase in road accidents in which scores of people get killed.
First the Government has to review the worthiness of the roads, especially in the hilly and far-flung areas, and the buses that ply on this accident prone routes. A snap survey had indicated that more than 50 per cent buses plying on various routes in the far flung areas are rickety and have outlived their utility. More than 35 per cent road arteries connecting villages with tehsil headquarters are a nightmare for the drivers and the passengers. Will increasing the strength of the traffic police improve the fitness of buses and the roads ?Certainly not.It is not in the hands of the Traffic Department to rebuild and renovate roads in the rural areas.
Secondly,the concerned agency issues route permits for running passenger bus services where already it has reached the saturation point.Recently transporters went on strike in protest against issuance of more route permits to bus operators for plying their vehicles between Jammu and R.S.Pora.The Government has to review the entire system so that in areas where there is shortage of buses route permits were issued for such areas.This could prevent overloading which usually has been found the cause of road accidents.When you have limited number of buses plying between Jammu and Doda or between Poonch and the state's winter capital passengers have no other alternative but to board already overloaded buses.The traffic department should be held responsible for any accident owing to overloading or on account of rickety buses.In fact the traffic police should be authorised to issue fitness certificates for each passenger bus after every one year.
Cynics do not believe that by adding 600 cops to the traffic department the rate of accidents can go down.They argue:It is traffic mess whereever there are more than two traffic policemen guarding a rotary.They recall the observations of Dr Farooq Abdullah,when he was the Chief Minister,who had stated that usually traffic policemen sit cross legged on their motorcycle like "lord Shiva" at particular points simply to extract money from the drivers.He had stated that invariably traffic cops are seen on duty in the early hours of morning and after stuffing their pockets with crisp currency notes they vanish like vapour.During peak hours they are not spotted with the result there is no check on the those drivers who drive their cars or buses in an erratic fashion.Even in the two capital cities in the state and other towns traffic cops are seen helplessly watching traffic violators.
And if this is the state of affairs how can one expect traffic policemen to enforce respect for traffic rules and regulations.It is funny the two capital cities boast of having got elevated to B class cities but there are no automatic traffic control signals.The scheme had been launched at a couple of places in Srinagar and Jammu over 27 years ago but it was abandoned either on account of resource crunch or owing to electricity shortage.Thus,if the Government is keen to enforce respect for traffic rules and regulations various agencies including the PWD,the R&B,BRO,Regional Transport Authority,need to put their heads together for evolving a massive plan under which the condition of roads can be improved, road links in the farflung areas get widened,road worthiness of buses to be examined periodically and improve the functioning of the trafic police by equipping them with better communication system.
The Government has to think about the way the number of cars,buses and matadors besides three and two-wheelers have swelled in the state during the last 20 years.Rough estimates say that more than 20,000 vehicles are added to the existing fleet every year.As such adding 600 men or 6,000 cops to the traffic Department may not resolve the problem of spurt in fatal road accidents. |
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