This New Year Mumbai traffic police will prioritise three offences

The Mumbai traffic police has zeroed in on three offences to be tackled on priority basis in 2015. The offences are: refusal to ply (by auto and taxi drivers), helmetless riding and halting vehicles before pedestrian crossings, said BK Upadhyay, joint commissioner of police, traffic. He will hold an urgent meeting with traffic officials on Tuesday, after which a circular about these offences will be sent out.

"While we will be vigilant about every traffic offence, these three will be our areas of focus this year. I believe these offences were largely ignored in previous years. I have called for a meeting with traffic officials from every chowky. We plan to register more cases and run awareness campaigns on these unlawful acts to educate both motorists and citizens," said Upadhyay.

He said that registration of cases related to these offences will be doubled this year, which will in turn help in disciplining motorists. He added that the department will also request the government to lay down more stringent penalties for these offences. "We will request the government to increase the penalty amount, strengthen the law and seize the vehicles in question, but it is not in the department's control," he said. "Therefore, stricter enforcement of existing laws will be our prerogative," added Upadhyay.

Upadhyay added that officials will be instructed to impose penalties on vehicles that do not halt before pedestrian crossings.

"It has become a common practise of motorists to not halt before the stop line and let pedestrians move. This leads to a lot of chaos. Usually, such offenders are not taken to task. But considering it has led to accidents and indiscipline on roads, it will not be tolerated any more. We have caught 80% of helmetless drivers in the city, we plan to make it 100% this year," he said. The department will also be sending proposals to re-draw pedestrian crossing markings on roads.

In 2014, till November, Mumbai had recorded 8,167 cases of refusals to ply, 2.5 lakh cases of helmet-less riding and 79,460 cases of halt of vehicles on pedestrian crossings. The officials believe that the real numbers are much more. "We have been receiving several complaints of refusal to ply by both taxis and autos. We plan to send out officials in plain clothes and keep a vigil and cancel licenses of repeat offenders, if required," said a senior traffic official.

The department plans to deploy a user-friendly technology using which a commuter can immediately register a complaint with the traffic police via phone from the spot of offence.