With the city seeing more vehicles on its roads, compliance to road rules seems to be on the decline.
A major violation, which is affecting smooth flow of traffic and resulting in accidents, is taking the right side (wrong side) of the road. While the police say offenders even cross medians and use the right side to avoid vehicles waiting before them, such violations are more at places where there are no medians.
Police officers said that the contractors who lay that road are responsible for keeping the medians back in place. Though they are paid for it, most contractors hardly do it.
ADVERTISEMENT
Situation is worse at the level crossings.
When the railway gates are opened a battalion of vehicles occupy the entire width of the road on both sides of the crossing.
While everyone is in a hurry to cross the tracks, police said that vehicles could cross the level crossing faster if they spared the right side.
ADVERTISEMENT
Police sources said that they are running short of medians and barricades.
Concrete dividers they borrowed from the State Highways department have helped bring down accidents on the Palakkad Road and Sathy Road.
Reflective tapes are used to close gaps below the overbridge under construction at Gandhipuram, as vehicles were sneaking through them to cross the road.
This simple but effective method could also be temporarily used to partition roads till a barricade or permanent median could be placed to divide roads.
The police are in the process of studying appropriate measures to avoid wrong side driving. Police officers said that they would look into booking cases against such violators till then.