November 21, 2024

Recently, on 11th August in the afternoon at about 3 pm in the afternoon, we spotted a police vehicle (Regn. No. WB 15C 2121) violating traffic rules and causing a congestion on the busy Gurusaday Road in south Kolkata. The vehicle was not on emergency duty, it had only one occupant other than the driver, both in civil dress and its alarm was also off. As can be seen in the picture, the SUV entered the wrong lane - the lane meant for vehicles coming from the opposite side - and this meant that vehicles in that lane were unable to proceed on their rightful way. This caused a traffic congestion on the busy intersection for a full 3 minutes, till the traffice signal turned green and allowed it to pass. Although this picture is from Kolkata, similar violations by olice vehicles are seen all over India.



Recently, the Motor Vehicle Act was amended by the government to provide for stiffer fines for traffic violations. But are these rules only for ordinary citizens? Do police vehicles have a licence to flout traffic norms even when not on the roads for any emergency?

The administration should look into this and prevent police or other government vehicles from flouting traffic rules with such impunity. These violations also have the potential of causing traffic accidents. They should be stopped.