manoj

As the high court attempts to rein in the lawlessness on Delhi roads, a traffic study carried out in the Capital has thrown up some startling figures — it puts the number of traffic violations committed daily at a whopping 146 million. This staggering figure was arrived at by including multiple violations by a single vehicle in a day. The figure seems dismal when compared to the average of 11,000 vehicles prosecuted daily.

With the number of vehicles on Delhi roads already touching 51.4 lakh, and 600 vehicles getting added to the fleet each day, experts predict a state of complete anarchy in the near future.

‘‘The prosecutions by the police are barely 0.007 per cent of the total number of traffic violations that take place on Delhi roads each day,’’ says Rohit Baluja, President, Institute of Road Traffic Education (IRTE), which carried out the survey.

As part of the study, IRTE carried out surveys on individual offences like use of seat belts, helmets and s, vehicle speeds and parking and came out with interesting observations.

For instance, it was found that more than 95 per cent bus drivers don’t fasten seat belts. The figure is about 25 per cent for cars.

Further, more than 90 per cent vehicles don’t stop at traffic signals after nightfall. And a majority of these vehicles jump the signals at high speeds, making it even more dangerous. More than 90 per cent drivers don’t respect the right of way of pedestrians, making them vulnerable.

As for use of s, which the high court had focused upon, about four per cent drivers were found violating the law.

This include a large number of bus and autorickshaw drivers. At the busy Ashram crossing in south Delhi, the team tried to count the number of horns blown each minute. Surprisingly, it was about 59, when the law strictly prohibits honking at intersections.

Baluja says a mere increase in penalty is not enough to check violations.

‘‘About 35 per cent violations are caused by faults in road design and faulty engineering. If red lights are not properly visible, bus lanes are encroached upon by unauthorised parking and signages are misleading, people are bound to make violations,’’ he said.

He suggested a number of measures to cut down on traffic violations. These included constitution of traffic engineering centres in PWD, MCD, NDMC and NHAI to be coordinated by traffic police, scientific investigation of accidents, attending to loopholes in legislations and strengthening enforcement at night.

As for the methodology, to ascertain the total number of violations, an IRTE team selected two most accident-prone locations in each of the nine districts in the city and at random followed different types of vehicles for distances spanning 1-3 kilometres. The violations noted were divided into categories and the results projected on to the entire motorised vehicular population, giving the staggering figure of more than 146 million. (A similar survey carried out last year had estimated the violations to be 100 million.)

The violations were categorised as running violations (like jumping traffic signals, wrong overtaking, overspeeding, violation of right of way at junctions, dangerous driving and lane driving), passenger violations (like not fastening of seat belts, driving without helmets, using s), vehicle violations (like faulty registration plates, overloading and non-functional basic parts like headlamps, brakes and rearview mirrors) and other violations (like honking in prohibited zones and unauthorised parking).

The study calculated the average number of violations committed by each type of vehicle over a kilometre. The figure was multiplied with the average number of kilometres the vehicle plies on the road daily derived through other surveys and finally multiplied with the total registered number of such vehicles.


Top 5 violations by cars and two-wheelers

1. Drivers not putting on seat belt
2. Using s
3. Riding without a helmet
4. Faulty registration plates
5. Unauthorised parking

Top 5 violations by buses

1. Driving without seat belts on
2. Footboard travelling
3. Not stopping at bus stops
4. Not driving in bus lane
5. Dangerous driving

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

__________________
Nothing is fool-proof to a talented fool.

spy

Sometimes when I drive at night especially after 10 p.m. then I feel rules and regulations are only meant for day.

road runner

Driving in New Delhi requires mammoth skills in concentration and multi-tasking. Accidents are bound to happen. If you keep my initial sentence on this subject in the forefront of your mind, you'll stay focused on surviving.