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Cops adopt multi-pronged approach to reduce number of accidents
There has been a steady increase in road accidents in Coimbatore city. Last year alone, there were more than accident 300 deaths in the textile city. In order to bring down the number of accident deaths, the city police are working on a multi-pronged approach. There are moves to book more cases and conduct awareness programmes for students and the public.
Coimbatore
Statistics show that of the 300 deaths last year, 111 of them were two-wheeler riders and more than 50 per cent of them died of head injuries. In the first three months of 2017, 74 persons were killed in road accidents in the city. This included 28 two-wheeler riders and pillion riders. Last week, six college students died in three road accidents on the outskirts of the city in less than 24 hours. None had worn helmets.
The police have been trying to strictly enforce the helmet rule, but this alone does not seem to be sufficient. So, they are working on an end to end approach for better compliance to using the head gear. “On Monday we started approaching apartments, gated communities, colleges and places of work for making helmets mandatory,” Deputy Commissioner (Traffic) of the Coimbatore City Police S Saravanan said.
The officer told DTNEXT that initially they are focusing on apartments and gated communities with more than 50 houses and work places with more than 50 employees. “There could be more than 700 residential and only a handful of work places and education institutions that have made it mandatory for those entering the campus to wear helmets,” he said.
In the first phase from Monday, police officers in the rank of sub inspector have started taking stock of the number of apartments, institutions and work places in their jurisdiction, making note of those who have already made helmets mandatory. In a couple of weeks, the police will recognise organisations and residential localities that have made helmets mandatory with a certificate of appreciation.
The Deputy Commissioner also said they would tighten enforcement in the vicinity and book cases against violators, which will leave them with no other option but to wear helmets.
“Our aim is to ensure that all the education institutions have made helmets mandatory before the ensuing academic year. We are holding talks with more than 80 fuel stations in the city not to fill fuel for two-wheelers with riders not wearing helmets, with effect from May 1,” said the Deputy Commissioner.
Students on bikes under watch to cut mishap rate
Since the last week of March, the Coimbatore City Police (CCP) are booking regular traffic violation cases to keep road accidents and relate deaths low during summer. This is because of the large number of accident deaths that were reported last year. In April this year, 34 accident deaths have been reported.
The spurt in accident deaths during summer is due to students hitting the roads on bikes during their annual holidays. So, the CCP has planned to focus on booking specific cases on a weekly basis under the title ‘One Week One Moto’ for 10 weeks (till end of May) to ensure compliance to road rules and avert violations by students.
So far, the police have registered more than 2,500 such cases under the ‘One Week One Moto’ special drives. In the last week of March the focus was on riding triples. The police had registered 1,638 cases from March 24 to 30. In the second week, they concentrated on fancy and misguiding number plates.
Last week, it was all about minors driving bikes. With police registering cases against the riders and vehicle owners. A fine of Rs 1,000 was imposed on the violators (Rs. 500 on the riders and Rs 500 on the owners of the vehicles), under sections 180 and 181 of the Motor Vehicles Act. From Monday (April 17), the police have planned to book users of mobile phones while driving two-wheelers and four-wheelers. Traffic police officers and personnel said that this has been instrumental in bringing down violations by minors without a driving license.
Send pictures of violators on WhatsApp: Officials
The ‘Police’ sticker affixed to vehicles does not give them the privilege to violate road rules. A police officer informed that the public can send pictures of police personnel violating rules such as not wearing helmets and jumping signals with the precise location to the Whatsapp Number 8190000100. Thus, while the Coimbatore City Police (CCP) are gearing up to reduce accidents by booking violators, they have made it clear that even police personnel and those who have affixed police stickers on their vehicles would not be spared.
“Whether they are going to office or to nab a criminal they are supposed to abide by road rules. Coimbatore City Police Commissioner’s office and the Armed Reserve Ground that houses the police quarters are 100 per cent helmet zones. Moreover, they should set good examples for others on road rules,” a police officer said. The officer further said that the public have been given full right to send pictures of police personnel who violate rules on Whatsapp Number of the CCP 8190000100. “We will impose fines for the violation and initiate departmental action against them,” a senior officer said.
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