Mumbai : With the big idea of making the traffic police more efficient in micro managing the dense traffic on the city roads, the department has embarked on a modernization plan that will make it easier to implement rules and create awareness among the people.
According to SR Paraskar, additional commissioner (traffic police), they are planning to get a new type of breath analysers that will be synced with the media centre at their Worli headquarters. ‘‘The interesting thing about these new age breath analysers is that when a driver exhales into them, the machine will also capture his image and this will be stored in our data base,” he said.
Having such a foolproof system will ensure that the traffic cops do not get into an awkward situation where a driver later backs off and claims that he was not driving the vehicle, he pointed out. It has also been decided that e-challans will be introduced in the near future that will reduce the need for having traffic constables at major junctions, Paraskar said. “We will have cameras fitted at all major junctions in the city which will be equipped to capture the image of a number plate of any vehicle that jumps a traffic signal,” he explained. And once they get the registration number of the offending vehicle, they can track the address of the owner and send the challan over, he added.
The officer said that there is a severe strain on the 3000-strong staff of the traffic police and it sometimes becomes difficult to regulate the traffic in the city. ‘‘The tendency is to jump a traffic signal and when a constable in spotted in the vicinity, the offender tries to scoot from the spot. This is not only an illegal act, but it can also endanger the lives of the constable and other people on the road.
Reacting to the revamp measures, Pravin Yadav, a car driver, said it is important that the traffic department takes steps to minimize the interface between the drivers and the traffic constables. ”There is incessant argument between them, since there is always a dispute whether the driver has jumped the signal or not,” he said. Having a technology which can capture the offending vehicle would be a more efficient way of dealing with the situation.
Paraskar said that the traffic police plans to start an awareness campaign at the school level and explain to the students the importance of following traffic rules.”Simple things like wearing a helmet and wearing a seat belt will be drummed into them, so that they can talk about this subject at home,” he said. Drivers should also develop the habit of stopping well before the zebra line, which will give space to the pedestrians to cross the road.
