TN Police: Chennai Police: Chennai City Traffic Police has been dabbling with quite a few transparency initiatives

The Chennai City Traffic Police has been dabbling with quite a few transparency initiatives of late, ranging from the reactivation of a dormant Facebook account to the launch of an SMS facility that provides real-time traffic alerts. Yet, day-to-day policing continues to involve only minimal public participation.

There is also an apparent disconnect between public expectations, in certain localities, and enforcement measures undertaken by the police. For example, while noise pollution, vehicular emission and dazzling headlights affect a majority of road users, those offences account for less than two per cent of the total cases booked by CCTP every year.

Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Sanjay Arora says that there is a need for an open debate on what exactly amounts to good policing. “Should citizens be allowed to set enforcement targets and evaluate outcomes? I am not sure about the answer to that question, but we are willing to explore the possibility of a performance appraisal mechanism,” he says.

Number of accidents

M.K. Subramanian, secretary, Automobile Association of South India, says that the number of accidents in each jurisdiction is one obvious performance index. “There must also be more focussed enforcement of specific offences, such as over-speeding, rash driving and wrongful overtaking, which directly contribute to accidents. Ultimately, the effectiveness of the traffic police comes down to the number of accidents that they are able to prevent.”

But should CCTP really prioritise the enforcement of certain types of offences over others? The Hyderabad traffic police department has taken an interesting approach to this problem. The Andhra Pradesh Motor Vehicle Act was amended last week to increase the fine on traffic offences that “endanger the lives of others”.

Jumping signals, for example, invites a fine of Rs.500. The minimum fine amount has also been raised to Rs.200 to bring in effective deterrence. The amendment states that fine amounts are as high as Rs.10,000 for a single violation in countries such as the U.S.

Mr.Subramanian says that the number of personnel diverted for VIP duty or for managing events must be posted in a public forum every day to evaluate the impact on enforcement. “Senior officers must also undertake regular surprise inspections in their personal vehicles. Since many constables just stand in the shade unmindful of what goes on in the road, the number of man-hours deployed has become an unreliable performance indicator,” he adds.

Road behaviour

Ravi Damodaran of the Citizens for Safe Roads (CSR) Campaign says that while the traffic police keep reporting an increase in the number of cases booked and fines collected, road behaviour has only become worse. “Looking at such statistics in isolation is an extremely myopic view of a department's performance. There has to be a social audit to see whether violations have come down.”

He also suggests a participatory approach to evolve neighbourhood-level traffic management solutions, such as the model which has been adopted on Haddows Road. Though the police provided demarcated parking zones on the road, it is usually the residents who enforce it.

Anyone can spend a few hours each day as a traffic warden by contacting CCTP at 23452267.