Strict monitoring of traffic a growing concern in Guwahati

GUWAHATI: Over the past five years there has been a noticeable lackadaisical attitude of the Guwahati Traffic Police (GTP) in enforcing traffic rules strictly. Changing the uniform colours and getting leaner men cannot be a solution to traffic jams, if they hang onto their phones during peak working hours. Cars, buses and bikes stop and parked anywhere which way they wish and GTP says nothing about it. For example, if GTP had made it a rule to wear helmets and seat-belts, then they should also make sure that people are following these rules. There should be strict monitoring in place, not just piecemeal.

It is a common scene that the GTP stops bikes and charging a fine from the driver for not wearing a helmet, walking up to people and reprimanding them for double-parking, et al. Apart from this entire traffic hotchpotch, we often see that there are very few drivers who respect pedestrians. Though there are zebra crossings in Guwahati, here cars never stop at the zebra crossing, almost running people over, leave alone letting people cross over from one side to the other. Even in the case of the commoners, city dwellers are still to understand the purpose of a zebra crossing, more so because the nouveau car owners have never been initiated into these pertinent facts of the road. As such, drivers need training from the traffic department on how to behave with pedestrians and now, it is an important activity that the GTP should think of taking up, without delay! Recently however, it has been noticed that the GTP is creating an impact with their traffic abhiyaan of imposing a fine on commuters for crossing over or standing on the zebra crossing! It’s an absolutely new activity and people are being caught unawares.

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