No major measures to reduce accident rate

No effective measures have been announced by the Chief Minister to control the unprecedented increase in number of accidents in the state and police have not been given any additional equipment for better enforcement of law. Except allocating Rs 6.42 crore for implementing the e-receipt system for the Chennai traffic police, no major announcements have been made for the police department. 

The long pending demand for CCTV cameras with fibre optic connectivity for better traffic management has not been considered in the plans for the police department for 2017-18. Though, the government has allocated Rs 2.5 crore for installing CCTV cameras in 100 police stations. “Chennai city is the only metropolis in India which does not have cameras for traffic management. The police higher-ups have been demanding this as with the existing manpower, it is impossible to manually inspect traffic violations in the city,” a senior official told DTNEXT.

The transport department had also proposed to install speed detection cameras at accident prone spots across the state and to connect it to a central hub. But, so far, the government has not committed anything on the much-needed project.“There are no new vehicles for patrolling or interception or new equipment for traffic cops. Shortage of manpower is a perennial problem as the number of vehicles has gone up considerably and policeman per vehicle ratio is very poor. None of these issues has been addressed,” another cop said. 

Apart from construction of new police stations and buildings, another main allocation has been earmarked for purchase of some basic security equipment. But this does not include breath analysers, which are essential to get hold of drunken drivers.