Vehicles moving bumper to bumper give this city nightmares, and adding to its woes are erratic drivers. The national capital has now decided to tighten the noose around rule-breakers on the roads. It is common to see lawless drivers closing their eyes to crosswalks, overlooking red light, entering into bicycle lanes to find ‘smooth’ roads, talking on cellphones while driving, and parking vehicles improperly.
In a city of more than 12 million people, there are reportedly only 5,000 officers to keep a tab on the gigantic traffic. Harbouring the dream of becoming a world class city, New Delhi is gearing to tackle one of the major problems it faces.
Delhi’s traffic police officers are now benefiting from a social networking website, Facebook, in their effort to curb unsafe driving. The traffic police had joined Facebook in June 2010 to improve its communication with the public. It is great to see that the page has over 30,000 fans. Not just this, the fans upload
photographs and videos of traffic rule violators with date, time and place of offence.
Till September 25, there were over 8,000 photographs uploaded by fans. Traffic police officers then make a record of such photographs and issue challans to the offenders.
Joint Commissioner of Delhi Traffic Police, Satyendra Garg, said that four of their officers maintain a continuous vigil on the Facebook page.
He added that the traffic police had never advised people to take pictures while driving, which in itself violates traffic rules. “We wanted a forum where people could express their views and suggest changes,” he said.
In the wake of concerns about the possibility of manipulating the photos, Garg says drivers can contest the tickets issued to them. So far, public’s response has been positive, he said.
The drivers should beware next time while breaking any traffic law. Your fellow driver might be recording this. Good job, Delhiites.
(The views expressed by the author are personal)