If you thought that you could get away by hitting the road without the mandatory helmet between 6 am and 8 am, then beware, the cops are on a special drive between the time period, watching you.
The rampant increase in violation of traffic rules gives a picture of utter negligence from the riders. When City Express approached a few riders the unanimous take was, “Helmets add extra weight on the head. But I wear it to get away safely without giving a fine. We only wear it when we are on a long drive.”
There is huge competition in traffic rules violations since the past three years. And, the year 2012 has defeated the rest by a long mark. In 2010, there were 2,57,072 cases of traffic rules violation booked, while 2011 showed no improvement with 3,20,456 and in 2012 (till the end of August) the number of cases increased to 5,61,392.
Speaking to City Express, Additional commissioner of police (traffic), M A Saleem said, “It’s apparent that people do not seem to be bother about the rules and keep violating it. We are on special drives between 6 am and 8 am to catch the violators.”
He further said that two special drives conducted by the Traffic Police got 8,000 to 10,000 plus cases booked on traffic rules violation and most of them were for ‘Driving without helmet’.
According to Prof. M N Shrihari, Adviser to the government, Traffic and Infrastructure, it is impossible for the police personnel to keep eye on every violator; riders ought to follow the rules to make sure that they reach home safely.
“Bangalore has a population of around 82 lakh, and about 42 lakh vehicles, 40 thousand junctions and 10 thousand kilometres of road. How is it possible for around 3000 traffic police personnel to keep an eye on every rider? It is the rider who should think of his safety first,” he said.
Nijaguna Murthy, a traffic inspector said, “Earlier people used to argue more after violating the rules and often ask us for proof of their violation. Now with the help of cameras provided to us, the picture speaks everything and we don’t.”
Though there are 43 different cases booked this year (Eight months), the box depicts the major figures on the book.