IRTE finds serious lapses in traffic management

Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb has called upon the local clubs and NGOs to go proactive in ensuring that in their respective localities all maintain traffic rules and the local youths do not indulge in reckless driving.

The Chief Minister has also suggested that heavy fine be imposed on them who would violate traffic rules or drive/ ride with breakneck speed.

The Chief Minister, who was delivering his speech at the Road Safety Management & Capacity Building Symposium organized by the Tripura Police in collaboration with Institute of Road Traffic Education (IRTE), New Delhi at Prajna Bhawan today, said the road rage menace cannot be solved only by the traffic police or for that matter Transport department alone.

“It requires an all out and holistic approach to streamline the traffic management and also to curb the rush driving menace involving government agencies as well as civil society organs” he opined.

“The local clubs can play a key role in bringing awareness in their areas and influence both the youngsters as well as their parents to prevent them from driving cars or riding two wheelers in breakneck speed—which causes many a fatal accident”, he said.

“Besides”, he said, “the media can also come forward to create mass awareness and help government in combating the road rage menace”, he added.

The Chief Minister said, as for the better road conditions a decision has already been taken that from now on only stone chips will be used for carpeting and quality of works will be monitored in right earnest. He has instructed Chief Secretary U. Venkateswarlu to ensure that whenever a pothole develops the concerned engineer of the department must take immediate step to patch it up.

“If immediate initiatives are taken the pot holes can very well be corrected before it becomes wider and deeper thus involving huge money for patching it up”. He said.

Deb taking cue from the IRTE report has also asked the concerned departments to make sure all the vehicles in the state do use tyres with perfect grips.

Among other decisions – that included on spot instructions to Chief Secretary U. Venkateswarlu, Principal Secretary to PWD Sashi Ranjan Kumar and Principal Secretary Transport L Darlong – the Chief Minister has also touched upon the issues relating to road alignment, engineering shortcomings, Highway Patrol etc.

He has asked the concerned official to ensure that edges of the carpeted roads be properly tapered off instead of keeping about one or half feet direct drop by the side –for which often vehicles go off balance and met with mishap.

In his speech the Chief Minister also dwelt on the achievements of the state government in the last one and half years.

Notably, prior to the symposium Institute of Road Traffic Education in its recently conducted survey encountered some serious shortcomings and lapses in the traffic management and road engineering system of the state.

The two day long survey that was conducted prior to a capacity building symposium organized in collaboration with Tripura police and IRTE, assessed the problems with the state’s traffic control system and suggested solutions.

Speaking at the symposium today, IRTE president Dr Rohit Baluja said, the state departments should collectively work to get rid of the growing number of road mishaps. The state has recorded a sharp increase in the number of private vehicles in last few years and 72 percent of the lot is contributed by the two-wheelers. But, he observed, when it comes to safety measures the level of awareness is very low.

On safety measures, he said, every now and then bike riders could be easily found plying in the roads without helmets, sometimes, riding while talking in phone. And those who were found riding with hamlets were either left their straps untied or kept the hamlet not properly worn. Safety measures were also neglected in case of pillion riders, he pointed out.

In case of four wheelers or heavy vehicles”, he said, during their investigation period they found while there were blatant violations of speed limit by all types of vehicles, none of the drivers on the other hand uses seatbelts. Moreover, uncontrolled use of retreated tyres, dangerous over-taking tendencies and many other issues relating to traffic rules violations came to fore during the investigation.

The heavy vehicles, he added, were also seen driving recklessly not following the standard speed limits. The unscientific ways of driving were identified as the main factors leading to fatal incidents.

On Traffic management and engineering, he suggested, the system of traffic management ought to be upgraded in no time. Legislations are needed to be enacted for better management of the traffic system.

Putting examples of Colonel Chowmuhani and Motor Stand petrol pump, he said, both of points are very crucial in terms of city’s traffic management but the traffic engineering cell should put more emphasis on restructuring the areas with proper safety guidelines. In some parts of the city, he continued showing video clips, the road alignments were not right, in some parts the white lining and Zebra crossings were found unscientific.     

Showing some clips of the flood affected roads and highly vulnerable areas in respect accidents, he said, the floods occur every year in the state but no measures have been seen to point out the right ways to the drivers while driving in a flood affected roads. Similarly, in case of roads full of sharp turns and large trees and bushes disturbing the drivers vision, were not adequately maintained---adequate number of sign-boards were not installed, no steps were taken to warn the drivers about the nature of the roads, even no steps were taken to aware the drivers about the speed limits, nearby schools and hospitals.

He also pointed out that there were several areas which were under construction in the national high ways but in no way the drivers were made aware of the situation and urged the participants from PWD department to take note of the situations. 

On the other hand, DGP In-charge Tripura Police, Rajiv Singh said, though Tripura is a small state, the growth vehicles in the state is nearly double of the national average keeping parity with the increasing number of road accidents.

Last year, fatal incidents in the roads claimed as many as 213 lives and left 741 injured seriously. And, most importantly, 72 percent of the victims were marked in between the age group of 18 to 45 years. He also added that though the state was positioned in 25th among 29 states in terms of RTA (Road Traffic Accident) case, the trend is gradually upward. The main aim of this first of this kind symposium is to generate awareness among the stakeholders and also to put a check on the increasing bloodsheds in the streets, he concluded.   

Notably, the IRTE has also introduced a Master of Science degree in Road Traffic Education at New Delhi. A complementary seat is also kept for Tripura where a student from state can complete the course free of cost.

Transport Minister Pranajit Singha Roy during his speech said, the state transport department is wholeheartedly working to bring in a change in the department. “Recently, we have decided to streamline the transport system of the state in order to relieve the daily commuters and also the people who use public transport” he added.  Expressing concern over the growing number of vehicles in the state, he said, as per official reports there are 4, 86,147 vehicles in the state among which 3, 42,007 are two wheelers. As per the new rules, no distributors of two wheelers were authorized to sell their product to someone who does not possess a valid driving license. Moreover, keeping safety in top priority, he said, all the patrol pumps were directed to give fuel to only those who are wearing helmets. The government has also taken steps to simplify the auto permit system so that only the real drivers can apply for the permits, he told the gathering.