Hyderabad, Jan 3 (IANS) Hyderabad traffic police will launch a special drive to check road accidents and life-endangering traffic violations by Road Transport Corporation (RTC) buses and other heavy vehicles.
The special drive will be conducted from Wednesday against over speeding/dangerous driving, wrong side driving, signal jumping, drunk driving, driving while using cell phone, stop line/zebra line crossing, obstruction of the free left, stopping on the carriageway, not stopping in Bus bays and using multi-toned horns.
This special drive is aimed to determine better road safety and more particularly to ensure pedestrian safety, Additional Commissioner of Police, Traffic, Hyderabad, said A. R. Srinivas said.
The decision came in the wake of a tragic accident under Bowenpally Police Station limits on January 1 when elderly couple was mowed down by a RTC bus. The couple had come to the city from Nirmal to meet their son.
Police said the reconstruction of the scene of the offence and analysis of the road accident conclusively pointed out sheer negligence of the RTC bus driver.
The official said during 2022, a total of 3,909 traffic challans were issued against RTC buses for traffic violations which include life-endangering violations like signal jumping, over speeding/dangerous driving, wrong side driving, and unauthorised parking/obstructions.
During the last year, 41 commuters were killed in road accidents, wherein RTC buses were involved. The victims include 21 pedestrians. The involvement of RTC buses in total fatalities during the year was 13 per cent.
In order to enhance road safety awareness, Hyderabad traffic police visited RTC depots and conducted 82 awareness classes and 4,303 RTC employees were imparted comprehensive road safety knowledge and sensitised about traffic laws and rules.
Hyderabad traffic police also conducted several coordination meetings with RTC senior officials to appraise the ground-level situation and sought their immediate attention to ensure road safety and traffic regulation in the city.
Alongside traffic regulation and enforcement, various engineering interventions/ special drives are carried out to ensure Hyderabad city roads are safe for commuting and to bring down fatalities of motorists, and more particularly of pedestrians, the official said.
–IANS
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