Kochi City Traffic Police warn against free left' misuse

Kochi: It’s often the practice of vehicles, especially two-wheelers, to take the free left lane and then take a ‘U’-turn after going a little ahead without waiting in the queue in order to bypass red signals to save time. However, such traffic rule violators will now have to face action as the Kochi City Traffic Police have launched a special drive from Tuesday against this rampant practice. A team led by Bijoy Chandran, Circle Inspector (Traffic East), caught the offenders at the Kundanoor signal along the National Highway 47 bypass stretch.

“We started the drive at Kundanoor signal. We found that 99 per cent of the vehicles taking the free left lane are attempting to bypass the signal which actually amounts to traffic violation. By jumping into the lane coming from Thevara side, there is a high risk of accidents. Now we will hold random checks at busy signals like Kundanoor and Vytilla to detect such traffic offences,” the officer said.

The cops issued a warning to offenders and let them off on the first day. “From tomorrow, we will levy a fine and afterwards we will take strict action including seizure of vehicles,” Bijoy said. If there was a mishap, vehicles cutting from the free left lane would be charged though the accident was caused due to the fault of those coming from the other lane, he said. Meanwhile, the traffic police has also started taking action against overspeeding of new generation bikes and even bikes which are souped up. “A direction has been given to take action against youths driving rashly using new generation bikes especially on week-ends.  Action will also be taken against autos running without meters as part of the week-long drive,” said K A Abdul Salam, Assistant Commissioner of Police (Traffic East).