manoj

It’s a statistic that ought to make Puneites ashamed of themselves when they claim that theirs is a city which ranks high on culture and education.

In a shocking revelation, over 3,000 traffic violations were recorded within eight hours at the Balgandharva chowk, in a survey conducted by Traffic Watch, a group of youth volunteers from the city-based Centre for Youth Development and Activities.

The survey, conducted on January 4 and 5 as part of the Traffic Week, observed by the Traffic Department
of Pune, was carried out between 4 pm and 8 pm on both the days. It recorded the number of vehicles stopping on the zebra crossing as well as vehicles jumping the red signal at the busy chowk.


According to the results, drivers of 597 two-wheelers, 166 cars, 29 PMT buses, 171 three-wheelers and 13 private four-wheelers ignored the red signal and did not stop during the peak rush hour. A staggering 1,724 two-wheelers, 239 cars, 38 PMT buses, 504 three-wheelers and 14 goods carriers stopped on the zebra crossing, which is meant for pedestrian crossing. Even cyclists blatantly ignored the rule, with 533 of them standing on the zebra crossing.

Source: http://epaper.timesofindia.com (Pune Edition)
Date Of Publish: 08-Jan-07

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prem

After seeing the road manners in our country no can say India is a CIVILIZED country.

rupali

Suppose If survey happened on every cross section of city then Imagine the traffic violation figure....


I think almost Countless...

ruchi

We are habitual of violating traffic rules instead of obeying traffic rules.

manoj

The failure of the traffic police to control the rising lawlessness on city roads has come under heavy criticism from activists and experts.

While deputy commissioner of police (traffic), Mahesh Ghurye, on Tuesday blamed the widespread traffic violations on acute shortage of manpower, activists said that even the existing force was not being stern with violators.

Ghurye had said that, while the strength of the traffic police had remained static at 500, given the sharp increase in the number of vehicles and the expansion of the city, the traffic police branch needed an additional 1,000 personnel to enforce traffic discipline effectively.

"Leave aside the people’s disregard for traffic rules, what are these 500 police personnel doing on the roads,” Dattatrey Ghule — a member of the Pune city traffic improvement committee (set up by former deputy commissioner of police Ravindra Sengaonkar) — asked while speaking to TOI. Had they been strict and effective in enforcing the rules, the traffic situation would not have been as worse as it is now, Ghule said. He noted that easy availability of driving licences and lack of road sense was adding to the problem

TOLL MOUNTS

• In 2005, the city recorded 2003 cases of road accidents, claiming 405 lives and injuring 1,721. In 2003, 1,803 road accidents were reported, which claimed 324 lives and seriously injured 207. The last one-and-a-half year has seen more than one life being lost to road accidents everyday
• Number of two-wheelers increased by 40,000 in 2005-06 as compared to the growth rate in 2001-04
• Number of cars has doubled from the annual growth rate of 11,000 during 2001-04 to 21,000 during 2005-06
• Number of vehicles has grown from 9.02 lakh (including 6.65 lakh two-wheelers) on March 31, 2001, to 13.53 lakh (including 10.18 lakh two-wheelers) on March 31, 2006.

Source: http://epaper.timesofindia.com (Pune Edition)
Date Of Publish: 11-Jan-07

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manoj

Youngsters their age would probably be seen zooming past red signals on their bikes. But this group of 20-somethings are conscious about traffic sense and are on a mission to persuade others to follow traffic rules as well.

Members of Crossbow Club — a group of youngsters committed to doing things for the betterment of society — took up a project to give stickers, saying ‘I am Proud To Follow Traffic ,’ to 350 vehicles on the MG road on the occasion of ‘traffic safety week’ last week.

“The idea came up because we wanted to do something for Pune during the traffic week and help the traffic police out. Traffic jams begin with the fault of one person. So we thought that if this sticker is pasted on every car, the person would look at it often and be aware of following traffic rules,” said Kedar Kamlapurkar, head of the project.

“Nowadays the traffic in Pune is a mess. Even if 20 per cent of what we have done works out, it will make a huge difference,” added Preet Solanki, president of Crossbow Club.

While the distribution of stickers is a part of their plan to spread awareness about traffic issues, the youngsters in their personal lives as well make it a point to follow traffic rules.

“Sometimes, if I am sitting behind a friend on the bike and he tries to break a signal or something, I tell him to relax and wait. It is not worth it to break a signal just to save hardly a few seconds,” Solanki said.

Following traffic rules is not just a one-time activity as a club, but something that the members themselves follow in their daily lives, said Kamlapurkar.

The Club plans to take the stickers distribution campaign further once the civic elections are over and even have plans to hold a rally to spread awareness about following traffic rules.

Members of the Crossbow Club and the traffic police put stickers on cars on M.G. road during the traffic safety week.

Source: http://epaper.timesofindia.com (Pune Edition)
Date Of Publish: 12-Jan-07

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Albela

We see a lot of statistics of this kind being posted here/newspapers....The traffic police claims they do not have enough manpower...hmm..can we somehow ask them about similar statistics from them (with whatever manpower they have)...

Can we have a count of how many offences did they punish during a day/month/year? I am pretty sure they will have lot less number to actually show on paper...the reason is simple...they do not officially punish most of the offenders....everyone knows that we can escape the official punishment by paying some amount without being charged officially....I would think the problem with traffic management is implementing the rules...Well they maybe running short of people in their department....but whatever number of people they have, if they strictly enforce the rules and collect the fines (with reciepts)....that would help them a lot to improve their image, and the traffic condition too....

manoj

Right Albela if our present traffic cops do their job honestly then our traffic problem can reduce a lot.

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streetwisw

I can not stress more. I have the same feelings like most of you and have worked for the last 4yrs to make a contribution.