Night driving in the city has become a real nightmare.
As if the uneven potholed roads and reckless drivers were not bad enough, there is this tribe of motorists who drive around with their vehicles’ headlights on full beam.
They are unmindful of the danger they pose to motorists crossing their paths. Halogen headlamps of some of the premium cars are so powerful that they can momentarily turn drivers blind.
Earlier, motorists were required to stick a black spot on the centre of the headlight panel to neutralise the intensity of light. But that practice has gone out of vogue. The Motor Vehicles Department used to conduct night-checking drive against high-beam driving. However, department sources themselves admit that they were largely ineffective and even put the enforcement officials in danger of being run down.
“In developed countries, there is a device called auto dipper, which when attached to the headlights automatically dips the light when a vehicle is coming from the opposite direction. Rules here should be amended to make devices like that compatible with the ISI approval for headlights,” a senior official said.
He also reminded of the need for lighting up streets, as drivers are more inclined to put headlights on high beam on unlit stretches.
No amount of enforcement, he said, would be effective unless these two steps are taken.
Lane traffic in the city has gone for a toss and so as free-lefts at important junctions. Free-lefts now exist only in name.
Though the ongoing Kochi metro work has taken its toll on the width of roads on many stretches, that’s not the reason in many cases.
The Motor Vehicles Department points at the need for the traffic police to demarcate free-left with traffic cones to ensure that no one encroaches into that space.
By blocking free-lefts, insensitive motorists only worsen the traffic congestion in the city.
“Another way is to mount surveillance cameras at important points to capture such violations and slap fine on those found guilty. Unless lane traffic is strictly enforced, the accident rate will go up further,” a MVD official said.
Meanwhile, MVD is conducting awareness classes on lane traffic for all those who clear the driving test.
(Reporting byM.P. Praveen andIllustration bySreejith R. Kumar)
