Chandigarh: When jumping the red light crosses the limit

Parking vehicle on the zebra crossing while waiting at a traffic signal, not wearing seat belts, over-speeding, using mobile phone while driving, and driving the vehicle on a high beam are the other commonly committed traffic violations on city roads.

The maximum number of traffic violations is detected in the East sub-division of the city, which includes lifeline of the city — Madhya Marg, one of the busiest roads in the city.In the last three months, more than 24,000 challans were issued in the East sub-division.

The Central sub-division, which includes Sector 17 Plaza, PGIMER, PU and Punjab Engineering College besides top three colleges, DAV and two government colleges, comes second after the East sub-division, where maximum traffic violations are detected.

Wrong location of signboards cause for commuter concern

WHILE THE Chandigarh Traffic Police claims to have put up signboards displaying speed limits, lane-driving and no-overtaking zones on roads across the city, the wrong location of many of these signboards renders them useless.

The UT Police has issued 914 challans for wrong-lane driving till March 31 this year.

Visitors to the city are often seen complaining to the cops that they did not see the signboards, which are either very small in size or are not visible from the road. For instance, the Chandigarh Traffic Police has enforced lane-driving on Jan Marg, but one can hardly find any signboard announcing it or marking the lanes. Although initially, the lanes were marked with paint, again the markings were done on the road itself rather than putting up signboards. While the markings have faded and disappeared, signboards are nowhere to be seen.

Commuters, especially outsiders, complain that whenever they drive on the Jan Marg, they are usually stopped by the cops and issued challans for wrong-lane driving. As per the rule, only heavy vehicles and ambulances could be driven on left side of the yellow line while other vehicles should be driven on right hand side of the line.

“Once I was driving on Jan Marg. I did not see any signboard telling me which lane I should take for my car, as it is the only road apparently where such a rule exists in Chandigarh. The cops stopped me and despite several requests, they issued me a challan,” said Dashmesh Deep Singh, who was challaned on Jan Marg a few days ago.

Singh, who is a resident of Sangrur, said, “People who visit Chandigarh are not aware of the stringent driving conditions here. There should be adequate signboards to make people aware of such lane-driving rules or speed limits. If such a rule exists only on Jan Marg, there should be sufficient number of signboards that make this announcement so that motorists do not violate it.”

The lane driving was introduced on Jan Marg on a pilot basis in the city with an aim to give a clear way to the emergency vehicles like ambulances and fire tenders.

Inspector General of Police Tejinder Pal Singh Luthra, however, said, “I have written to the engineering department to install bigger signboards on the roads so that motorists can clearly see them and follow the lanes or speed limits while driving on city roads.”

Violations go unchecked in Mohali, cops say launching drives soon

IF FIGURES are any indicator of traffic violations in the city, motorists in Mohali appear to be far more law-abiding than their counterparts in Chandigarh or Panchkula. But this is not the case as traffic violations go unchecked in Mohali and the traffic violators are having a free run in the absence of concerted checking campaigns.

While the Chandigarh Police have issued around 70,000 challans in the last three months, the Mohali police have not even detected 5,000 violations this year so far.

While those who ride two-wheelers without wearing safety helmets are caught, drunken driving goes unchecked in Mohali.

Senior police officers, however, claim that they will soon be launching a special drive to catch drunk drivers. Mohali SSP Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said, “I have issued instructions for special drives to catch traffic violators. Our special focus will be on checking drunken driving.”