manoj

Most true-blue Mumbaikars would hate to learn manners from Delhi. And yet, the agenda on traffic orderliness is being set in the capital, while Mumbai transforms from a civil road-people to a bunch of reckless signal-crashers and cellchatters.

In contrast to Mumbai’s wishywashy penalties, Delhi has kept it simple — make people pay dearly for nonsense. While the minimum fine there now is Rs 600 and your licence is seized after being punched for three offences, in Mumbai the fine is a measly Rs 100, without a bruise to the licence.

Considering Mumbai has 600650 road-accident deaths every year, many feel it is time that the city took lessons from Delhi. After all, the city’s vehicular density is 591 vehicles per km, as against the international standard of 300 vehicles per km.

“I think there is a greater need to launch a sustained drive in Mumbai. Motorists here have no regard for pedestrians and violate every law. The traffic police may have their problems, but if there is a continuous drive, motorists will eventually learn to respect the law,” said S. Sriraman, professor of transport economics, University of Mumbai.

And despite having 15 lakh vehicles and lakhs of traffic violations annually, Mumbai does not have its traffic data digitised. This is helping violators escape fines for their subsequent offences as there is simply no archival record of any violations, unlike in Delhi where traffic licences and data are digitised and archived.



Source: http://epaper.hindustantimes.com (Mumbai Edition)
Date Of Publish: 12-Apr-07

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manoj

Joint Commissioner (Traffic) Satish Chand Mathur says that the Mumbai police is relentlessly booking offenders and trying to impose traffic discipline despite odds.

Q: Delhi has launched an unprecedented crackdown on the chaos on its streets. Is it not time for Mumbai to do the same?

A: Mumbai has been doing this continuously. Every day is a campaign for us and in the last few years, we have been stepped up our campaign as the number of vehi cles has gone up. Delhi has about 20,000 km of roads and Mumbai about 1,900 km, so there cannot be a comparison. Moreover, the Delhi traffic branch has a force of more than 4,000 men and we simply have nearly 2,000. There’s a huge difference.

Q: Mumbai was known for its traffic discipline. Nobody doubts that anarchy reigns today. You may not be able to turn back the clock, but is this not the time to at least send a message that this cannot continue?

A: Traffic violators have been fined continuously day in and day out. Take this example, we have earned revenue of about Rs 14-15 crore per year simply by charging fines on traffic violations in the past few years continuously. Isn’t it an indicator of the high number of traffic violators that we have been taking action against?

Q: A simple thing: Mumbai is the only city where pedestrians cannot use zebra crossings because policemen don’t care if vehicles ag gressively push ahead. In both Delhi and Bangalore, at least the zebra crossings are kept free.

A: The number of vehicles has gone up voluminously and it becomes difficult to control many a time, especial ly on crowded and narrow streets. Moreover, not many roads today have clear mark ers and zebra crossings (marked by the BMC’s traffic wing). Wherever they are, our men try to keep them free for pedestrians.

Source: http://epaper.hindustantimes.com (MumbaiEdition)
Date Of Publish: 12-Apr-07

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Nothing is fool-proof to a talented fool.

manoj

Expert Speak: NITIN DOSSA Executive Chairman, Western India Auto Association

DELHI HAS woken up just now, but Mumbai has been having such traffic penalty drives day in and day out on a very regular basis. There’s a problem with Mumbai’s roads. They are narrow and very peculiar and cannot be widened beyond a particular point as the city is an island surrounded by sea.

Given this limitation, there is no scope of adding more roads to the existing network. This is compounded by the problem of a continuous flow of cars into the city — the ones registered here and the ones that keep coming from other states. Given these peculiarities, I would say the Mumbai traffic department has been doing a good job so far.

The traffic problem in Mumbai must be seen in a comprehensive way and at a macro level. Given the lack of road space, another problem is of increasing population. Hawkers occupy footpaths, leaving no space for pedestrians, who then spill on to roads, hampering traffic movement.

This is one of the major problems that makes an average person think that Mumbai’s traffic has lost its discipline. It is not the case. An average Mumbai driver today is equally disciplined as he or she was earlier, but the crowd is so dense and the space so less that he has nowhere to go and runs a high risk of meeting with an accident.

The latest transport statistics, released March 2007, reveal that the number of vehicles has now touched 15 lakh. But has the city’s land grown? If one keeps adding vehicles like this, it is obvious that it will give an impression of chaos. The traffic police, with a force of less than 2,500 personnel, have been fining traffic violators and have earned money in crores. What more one can expect?

Source: http://epaper.hindustantimes.com (Mumbai Edition)
Date Of Publish: 12-Apr-07

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Nothing is fool-proof to a talented fool.

prem

Not only Mumbai..each and every big Indian cities where traffic problem is spreading as an epidemic like: Bangalore, Pune, Hyderabad, Kolkta etc because these are those cities where cases of traffic violations & road accidents increasing every year.