Cops struggle with new radars,speed rules city roads

Officials in the Traffic Police department say nakas to check speeding were a regular feature last year. “At times,there used to be three to four nakas every week to check speeding. This year,nakas are put up only on weekends to check drunken driving,from 8 pm to 11 pm. In many instances,during a three-hour operation,not even a single case of drunken driving is reported,” said the official.

The Traffic Police has also been lax in issuing challans for use of mobile phones during driving. Last year,the figure stood at 4,793. Till October 22,there have been only 2,924 challans —- a drop of almost 40 per cent.

Despite the emphasis of traffic police on wearing seat belt,the rule continues to be ignored. There have been only 4,371 challans for this offence till October 22 this year. Only 4,866 challans were issued this year for wrong parking; 9,113 challans for driving on high beam; 668 for using black film on windows; and 7,365 where the number plate was not visible or was obscured.

While underage driving is a major menace in the city,only 90 challans have been issued in this category this year. The number last year stood at 234. In addition,1,697 persons have been challaned for triple riding.

According to police records,1,960 autos have been challaned this year for charging without meters. The number stood at 2,655 last year.

DSP Traffic Vijay Kumar told Chandigarh Newsline,“We were earlier issuing speeding challans on the basis of radars,which could not keep a record of date,time and speed. Recently we purchased new radars that can maintain this record,which can be produced if anybody contests the challan. However,our traffic men could issue only 20-25 challans during an operation with these new radars,as against about 100 challans with the old radars. We have now trained our men in this regard.” The DSP added that the traffic policemen were also busy with other duties in the last few months,which impacted the speeding drive.