Hyd Traffic Woes: Vehicles Getting Added in Lakhs; Traffic Police Figure Stagnant in Thousands

Hyderabad: First the startling facts about the city’s traffic overload. Approximately, 84,53,053 vehicles were registered in 2023 in Hyderabad and Rangareddy districts. It has already crossed 90 lakh this year with the highest being two-wheelers with 60,99,974 registrations, followed by cars at 15,73,891, autorickshaws 175,660 and goods carriages 343,601.

This surge is adding to the harrowing times, which is made worse by a terrible shortage of staff in the traffic department (only 2,956 traffic personnel as of now), as a result of which there is chaos during peak hours across all roads and streets. Understandably there is a compelling need for devising more efficient traffic management strategies.

The situation is exacerbated by the limited number of traffic police personnel to manage the flow of vehicles, especially in containing wrong side driving, and the penchant of drivers to give a damn to traffic signals and haphazard parking.

Hyderabad traffic DCP Rahul Hegde told Deccan Chronicle that "we are using new technology and strategies to improve traffic management. Body worn cameras are a good deterrent. In 2023, we booked 5,32,096 cases of wrong side driving and 2,08,303 in 2024.”

He further explained "H-TRIMS operates 197 traffic signals with an eco-friendly, automatic traffic control system while advanced e-challan systems and android tablets are used for real time enforcement, particularly against drunk driving.”

According to Cyberabad traffic Joint CP D. Joel Davis, “We are having 1028 traffic police personnel in our jurisdiction. Last year, 1,40,717 wrong-side driving cases were booked while in 2024 it stands at 1,12,227 till date. For a smoother traffic flow, we are encouraging carpooling as this will also reduce congestion and emissions. We are planning a centralised transport system.”