Bengaluru: The Bangalore Traffic Police (BTP) is gradually culling out mean driving and riding habits from the road users in the city who adapt to the ‘sab chalta hai’ attitude either knowingly or unknowingly. A few of them on the cops’ list are footpath riding, parking on pedestrian walks for which the cops are diligently and mercilessly booking violations, and the recent addition to the list is booking for using high-beams within city limits.
The BTP have registered 7,725 cases of violations on the high beam using vehicles within city limits over the last eight months starting January this year. In a special drive conducted last week alone, 2922 vehicle drivers and riders were penalised for high beam usage within city limits. “It’s a long process, if we start booking violators regularly, the awareness will spread and the habit of using low beam will be inculcated among drivers,” says M.A. Saleem, Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) adding that disciplined, defensive and responsible driving/riding involves many such good habits that will have to be gradually inculcated into drivers.
“Usage of high beams on roads within the city limits has been banned since 2003. High beams are meant only for national highways and other highways. There is no need for high-beams on illuminated city roads,” says Mr. Saleem adding that they were not only conducting regular drives to check high beam usage within city, but also looking forward to creating awareness among drivers and riders as to the ill-effects and damage that blinding lights can cause resulting in road accidents.
Though a number of drivers justify their using high-beams at night blaming poorly lit roads, bad roads with potholes, and sometimes switching to high beams to overpower the opposite vehicle’s high beam, the cops are in no mood to listen. The penalty for the first offence is '100 and '300 for subsequent offences.
Traffic experts feel the BTP is doing a good job in this fore, but question why the police conduct such drives only in and around the Central Business District (CBD) area. “The traffic police should widen such special drives regularly to even the city outskirts where drivers commit such offences blatantly,” says M.N. Srihari adding that the same traffic cops who conduct special drives on drunk driving also can book for using high beams too.
