In order to curb growing congestion of the city roads with overloaded autorickshaws, the Chittoor traffic police on Monday organised an awareness camp for the owners and drivers of autos and cabs at the Renuka Kalyana Mandapam here and sought their cooperation to strictly avoid overloading and compliance of norms such as closing of the rear of autos and barring passengers from occupying the driver's cabin.
Addressing the gathering, Deputy SP (Chittoor-Traffic) K. Kesappa said that an analysis of the recent road mishaps revealed that most of them took place due to overloading and allowing passengers in drivers' cabins. Some operators were halting at various points in the city limits, creating traffic snarls. "The authorities of the APSRTC have also complained that allowing passengers to board autos at the bus stops is not only causing a financial loss to the corporation but also operational inconvenience. Though there is a strict norm that the autorickshaws should not ply on the national highways, some operators are violating this and indiscriminately running the vehicles with an overload of passengers," he said.
Due to the bad condition of rural roads, the autos with overloaded passengers were always prone to capsising, the DSP said.
