Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Traffic violations at night in the city

LAW AND ORDER The city police plan to crackdown on violation of traffic rules at night, writes G. Anand

The police were planning a crack down against vehicles equipped with extra headlights. Officials said the use of anti-fog illumination in vehicles plying in urban areas was proving to be a traffic hazard, particularly during rainy nights.

The police would fine drivers of vehicles fitted with illuminated registration plates and tinted headlights. There was no legal sanction for equipping vehicles with an array of powerful lamp.

The National Transportation Planning and Research Centre (NATPAC) had pointed out that 25 per cent of the accidents in the State were reported at night. The accident scene in the capital district was no different. Often, powerful headlights of oncoming vehicles temporarily blind drivers, resulting in accidents. There have been instances of vehicles veering off the main carriage way, ramming into other vehicles parked on roadsides, hitting unmarked medians or knocking pedestrians and two-wheelers off the road.

The police were examining how the brilliance of vehicle headlights could be reasonably restricted to avoid such accidents. Poor lighting, particularly at junctions, and failure to highlight medians and traffic islands with reflectors or else, white paint, were proving to be hazardous to motorists.

The brake lights of a significant number of public transport buses and cargo vehicles do not work. Most lack reflectors in the rear. Many ply at night with only a single headlight working. Several have scratched windshields that refract light at night, and dysfunctional vipers. Many vehicles run on worn out tyres and with insufficient brakes.

Most instances of one-way violations, speeding and drunken driving occur in the city after 11 p.m.

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