Vijayawada:Chaos on roads as cops focus on fines

Vijayawada: Traffic police drew flak for failing to regulate movement of vehicles at busy centres even during peak hours in the city.

With a large number of people commuting through the thoroughfares like Yanamalakuduru Donka Road Bridge, Raghavaiah Park, Kaleswara Rao Market, Kanaka Durga temple, Bhavanipuram, Benz Circle, Auto Nagar Gate and others, the police fail to regulate the vehicular traffic causing hardships to the road users. The cops are not taking any action even when the motorists are jumping the red signals.

At some important centres, the  traffic signals are failing to function, on a few occasions, resulting in chaos as every motorist intends to cross the road at the same time.

When motorists bump into one another, it is leading to scratches and dents on the vehicles and the owners are entering into a heated argument bringing the movement of the vehicular traffic to a grinding halt.  

The commuters blame the traffic cops for being very prompt in imposing fine even for a small deviation of road rule or for failing to produce papers, which was prominently observed in the last 10 days of a month, as they are given targets to impose fines on commuters.

Motorists feel the traffic police should be prompt in discharging their duty as it would help in changing the attitude of some commuters and in complying with the road safety norms.

The rules are aimed at making the motorists to be patient while moving on the road and at the same time, avoid rash and negligent driving, which would result in reducing the number of road accidents.

The rule of wearing helmet while riding a two-wheeler is being hardly  implemented except on a few occasions and this is making the motorists be bold even if not wearing a helmet as they are aware that policeman will not stop them or impose fine.

The commuters want the police to implement the helmet rule promptly so that the riders get habituated to wearing it, which can save their life during accidents.

Several commuters complained about a large number of auto rickshaw drivers being reckless while driving. Stopping the vehicle suddenly in the middle of the road to allow a passenger get down or  board into the vehicle can lead to accidents and heated arguments.

The commuters want the police to conduct regular counselling to the auto rickshaw drivers to bring about a change in their attitude and penalise them, apart from taking stern action as per norms so that they may change their practice.

A commuter, S. Chandrasekhar Rao, at Benz Circle said, “The police have to discharge their duty promptly by not allowing signal jumping, riding/driving in wrong direction, haphazard parking and rash and negligent driving so that the commuters will follow norms and ensure safety to the commuters and pedestrians.”in the city.”

Another commuter K. Ratna Kumar near Durga temple said, “The traffic police find more interest to collect fine and bribe than regulating vehicular traffic.”