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Journalism of Courage
This is an archive article published on December 15, 2023
Caught breaking traffic rules in Bengaluru? You may soon have to explain it to your boss
Police now send to companies lists of traffic violations committed by their staff.
The initiative was started about 15 days ago on an experimental basis in the east division of Bengaluru. (Representational/File)
In a novel initiative to raise awareness about road safety and traffic rules, the Bengaluru police have started notifying companies about their employees’ traffic violations.
The initiative was started about 15 days ago on an experimental basis in the east division of Bengaluru. Traffic police officials started by flagging IT company staff who rode two-wheelers along the wrong side of the road. They sent a list of violations to each company.
The drive is currently underway across Bengaluru’s information technology corridor, which comes under the Mahadevapura traffic police division.
Mahadevapura traffic police Inspector Ramesh R said, “We are just experimenting with this initiative to see if the riders become more conscious about the road safety and traffic rules. As part of the initiative, when we catch hold of a violator, we check his identification card to identify his company. The traffic department is in touch with the companies and tech parks falling under our division. We send the list of violations by the riders to the companies on WhatsApp. We also issue online challans, not spot fines for violations.”
He added, “We don’t send any personal information but we send the number of violations accounted for by a company’s employees. We recommend that the company or the head of security of the tech park fix a date to raise awareness about road safety and traffic rules. We also recommend they call over the police for a session on traffic rules. The initiative is just to ensure that people follow the law of the land. This way the employees will become more conscious about traffic rules and think before violating them.”
The drive was conducted across 48 traffic police stations, with 708 cases being booked and 1,400 vehicles checked.
The traffic department is gathering data every day on the number of private vehicles entering tech parks along the IT corridor to manage traffic accordingly.
Manas Das, president of the Outer Ring Road Companies Association, said, “The initiative sounds like a deterrent, but I am not sure how much effect it will have. Unless the company pulls up the employee individually for the violation and has a discussion about it, the initiative will serve only a limited purpose.”
Crackdown on overloading
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On Thursday, the police initiated a crackdown on vehicles carrying more schoolchildren than allowed. The drive was conducted across 48 traffic police stations, with 708 cases being booked and 1,400 vehicles checked. Of these, 247 buses, 97 autorickshaws, 134 Omni vans, 201 other vans and 29 other vehicles were booked under the Karnataka Motor Vehicles Act for overloading.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
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