Delhi roads can't take on foreign speed machines

But police gearing up to crack down on offenders

The Delhi Police claim to have made substantial progress in controlling traffic and reducing fatalities here, the highest among the country's cities.

Joint Commissioner (Traffic) Satyendra Garg told The Hindu that about 1,800 people were sent to jail for drunken driving in the first three months of 2012 as against 2,900 in the whole of 2011. He admits the system is not what is desired. Roads are replete with potholes and 30-40 breakdowns of cars occur every day. Nor is there any system to certify the fitness of cars.

Delhi roads lack proper signs, signage, zebra crossings and specification of speed limits. In short, it does not have world-class infrastructure to allow foreign speed machines to run on its roads unbridled.

The police booked 8.62 lakh people for jumping the red light in 2011. But the actual violation at road crossings by vehicle users would have been 10 times this number, Mr. Garg said.

Now the police are in the process of adopting the latest technology to control speed and book offenders. Speed guns and night vision speed cameras will also be installed at 70 points.

Besides, interceptor vehicles will be stationed to crack down on speeding vehicles during night and treat speed violation as dangerous driving. The police intend routing challans through courts.