Who will bell the chaotic traffic cat?

Who will bell the chaotic traffic cat?
Jagadish Angadi
BANGALORE 360 Degrees gets back on the lean and mean streets of the City to keep its date with the old traffic chaos story. This is the first of a new series on CRIME, a campaign well poised to probe even deeper as the week advances. Be prepared for more on the men in khaki and the people who run after them and off them. But first, the problems faced by all of us on the roads day after day, year after year...


For decades, we Bangaloreans have been complaining about the poor state of our roads, our chaotically planned and executed traffic scene, pathetic road sense, and yes, the ever-increasing number of vehicles. We blame the Government, the police to be precise, for most of these ills, although we are ourselves partly responsible for the total lack of order on our roads.

Of course, successive governments can easily take the blame for the lack of vision in traffic management, delayed infrastructure upgradation, lack of proper public transport system, connectivity and inadequate traffic policemen.
But the traffic police are in no mood to take responsibility for what they assert, are policy matters. The Government, they insist, should act positively and quickly to set things right. The current practice by the everyone including the media to put the entire blame on the traffic police had to stop, they say.

Easy targets

Being the most visible face of traffic management, the traffic policeman often becomes the target of public ire and frustration. Be it jam packed roads, or traffic moving at snail's pace, jams due to heavy rains or protests; violation of traffic norms or accidents, the men who man the streets are the first to be targetted.

Here are some views right from the street, as voiced by the policemen themselves. In a nutshell, this is what M M Yogendranath, inspector, Malleshwaram traffic police station and M Krishnappa, ACP, Malleshwaram Sub-division have to say on the issues in question: "It's not the police who provide infrastructure. It's not the police who give license to new vehicles. It's not the police who build complexes without parking facilities. It's not the police who should have implemented the Metro Rail project long back.”

Tackling tough violators.

The officers cite problems galore in booking violators as well. “When we nab drivers for violating traffic norms, the offenders say, ‘My relative is critically ill in a hospital. He will die if I don't get medicine on time. Is saving a life or taking action important to you? If he dies, I won't let you be happy.’ Some even argue, ‘Explain to me the Law under which you are taking action. As per the law you cannot detain my vehicle,’”

Some offenders openly refuse to produce documents and say that they will definitely settle scores with the police “Every now and then, the traffic cops are beaten up by motorists. If we start arguing with such drivers, who will take care of traffic on the road?,” the officer seeks to know.

On the Transport Minister R Ashok's reported statement that the government would soon issue license to 5000 autos, these officials predict that if implemented, the traffic situation would totally go out of control.

Obvious reasons:

The reasons are pretty obvious. One, the city infrastructure is not well-planned. Many people have two to three two-wheelers besides a four wheeler.

Suggestions to improve, there are aplenty. The fine amount collected should be returned to the same sub-division for improving traffic-related problems. After all, the chaos has affected the traffic constables too. Rising BP, diabetes, respiratory disorders, infertility and vericosveins are rampant amo ng the traffic police. Who will care for such issues?,” question the officials.

Traffic problems, they are convinced, cannot be solved in isolation. As two other ACPs assert, there is no coordination between traffic, BBMP, BDA and KSRTC. Now, that is a practical suggestion. But will the agency heads dare to don the helmet for another chaotic ride.