In the wake of blatant violations of traffic rules and encroachments, the city police have come up with an action plan to improve the free flow of traffic.
In the wake of blatant violations of traffic rules and encroachments prevailing on most of the major roads in the city, including national highways passing through the city, the city police have come up with an action plan to improve the free flow of traffic.
In a PowerPoint presentation to the media, Hyderabad Commissioner of Police C V Anand apprised them about the series of measures to be initiated for clamping down on traffic violations, and for Removal of Obstructive Parking and Encroachments (ROPE).
Since the Covid-19 outbreak, there was a steep rise in individual vehicles, both two-wheelers and cars, increasing the congestion on the city roads, Anand said. As compared to 2019, the number of vehicles had by to almost 18% in 2022, and the total vehicles plying on roads was about 77,65,487 now, he said. The volume of traffic complaints being reported to the Dial 100 helpline has also increased, he said.
Hinting at a hawkish stance on enforcement, Anand said that the emphasis would be on quality enforcement instead of quantity hereon. During peak hours all senior officers would focus on regulation. More towing cranes would be pressed into service to keep the carriageways clear. Stop line discipline would be strictly enforced, and stringent measures would be initiated against commuters resorting to wrong-side driving, triple riding, improper number plates, black films on windows and so on. And around 100 more home guards and 100 more women personnel would be deployed for traffic duties to cover more junctions, the CP said.
Junction development, erecting signage boards at free lefts, providing safe turning radiuses at U-turns and adopting reversible lanes as per the traffic flow will also be studied and implemented as part of engineering measures. Reviving bus bays, relocating bus stops and improved road signages marking measures will be initiated soon. And following frequent complaints from the residents of colonies about congestion in internal roads, the city police has decided to extend its focus to address such issues too.
The CP also said that regular meetings would be held with establishments, hawkers, schools, colleges, auto drivers, RTC drivers and all stake-holders to sensitise them on road rules and parking norms. Of the total built-up area, under the norms laid under GO MS No 168, residential apartments and education institutions needed to allocate 30%; hotels, lodges and commercial buildings needed to allocate 40%; and malls and multiplexes needed to allocate 60% as parking space. After carrying out education campaigns on these and other rules, special enforcement drives would be started to keep a tab on errant violators, Anand said.
The social media unit of the traffic wing will scale up the digital education campaigns to reach out to more youngsters through awareness videos, sessions and so on.
Seeking the cooperation of commuters, especially drivers of private and public transport vehicles, Anand said that the proposed action plan for better traffic management could succeed only if the public extended their full support to the traffic police personnel.
Anand also unveiled the new logo of the traffic wing on the occasion.