Optimising City Traffic Safety

• A detailed survey has been carried out to analyze the requirement of traffic signal lights and at 353 junctions signal lights have been installed.
• In order to ensure compliance of traffic laws at 179 places, surveillance cameras have been installed and traffic violators are being booked.
• At five important junctions, enforcement cameras have been installed which capture the photographs of speeding vehicles and also send the details of violation of signals to the Traffic Management Centre.
• Hand-held enforcement devices have been given to field officers to book traffic violation cases at the field level itself and enabling them to collect the spot fine which has brought in transparency in enforcement.
• At 625 places Solar Blinkers have been installed to ensure safety of road users.
• In order to facilitate pedestrians to cross the busy roads at 49 places Pelican Signal lights have been installed.
• For helping the physically challenged, hooters and timers have been installed at all junctions so that they can cross the roads without any danger.
• Across the City 30,000 Traffic related regulatory and mandatory boards have been erected thus bringing uniformity of the signage boards.
• The public are well informed in advance with regard to various programmes / VVIP movements / rallies / protests / dharanas etc., through social media in order to enable them to plan their routes. The congestion points are also shared with road users.
• Nearly 107 Main roads have been designated as “Zero Tolerance” roads. On these roads wrong parking, foot-path parking has been avoided by way of regular patrolling.
• Heavy Goods Vehicles have been banned from 07.00 am to 11.00 am and 04.00 pm to 10.00 pm. This has helped to reduce the traffic congestion.
• All the officers and staff are directed to be on road and ensure smooth flow of traffic.
• Each Traffic Police Station has been asked to adopt a congested road and convert it into a “Model Road”. The model roads should ensure smooth flow of traffic and on the road adequate and appropriate traffic sign boards are installed and violators of traffic rules are prosecuted.
• Infusion of Technology in Traffic Management has helped in achieving reduction in travel time.
• Across the Bengaluru city, 20 Variable Messaging System panels have been installed to guide the general public and to give information about congested points.
• Several unscientific humps have been identified and action being taken to replace them with new scientific humps with IRC specifications.
• In order to ensure safety of road users several special campaigns are being organized to create awareness of road safety among the road users.
• The new concept of contactless enforcement has been implemented which enables the traffic police to capture the violations through Enforcement, Surveillance and digital Cameras which are then processed and a Notice under Sec. 133 IMV is served to the owner.
• Throughout the City, uniform speed limits have been implemented and road users who have exceeded prescribed speed limits have been prosecuted.
• Services of 13 Interceptor vehicles and five Enforcement Cameras have been effectively utilized to take action against over speeding vehicles.
• For ensuring smooth flow of traffic, Tubular Cones, Median Markers, Hazard Boards etc, have been fixed at appropriate points.
• Persons driving / riding in a dangerous way are being watched
• With the help of Alco Meters, drunken driving is controlled.
• The dangerous acts like Drag Racing, Wheeling & Zigzag riding are dealt seriously and patrolling has been enhanced at points / roads where these acts are reported to be performed.
• In order to bring more discipline among the road users, licenses of errant drivers/riders are sent to the concerned RTOs for suspension.

Preeti Swaminathan