Bengaluru City Traffic Police

Bengaluru Traffic Police (BTP) is facing a personnel crunch. The city only has 4,638 traffic police personnel for a vehicle population of over 80 lakhs. As per a 2015 report of the Home Ministry's Bureau of Police Research and Development, there should be one traffic police personnel for every 700 vehicles. By that yardstick, Bengaluru has a traffic cop shortage of almost 54 percent. In addition to the challenges in managing traffic, this also means difficult working conditions for the constables who man our roads. Imagine standing eight hours in Bengaluru traffic, not following a regular timetable of shifts, with…

In a recent article, we looked at the severe shortage of traffic police personnel in Bengaluru, and how the administration is trying to bridge this gap. In this article, S T Ramesh, former DG&IGP of Karnataka, weighs in on the issue. There are three 'E' s that have to be followed to ensure good traffic management. They are Engineering, Enforcement and Education.  The police is hardly consulted in matters of road engineering though it affects smooth flow of traffic in a big way. The biggest challenge in traffic management in Bengaluru is the absence of parking spaces; because of this,…

The Bengaluru Traffic Police (BTP) has a current strength of 4,638 personnel. Its sanctioned strength is 5,306 personnel, as per data obtained from the Traffic Management Centre. On the face of it, this indicates a shortfall in recruitment, of 12.59 per cent. Most of these -- 598 vacancies out of the 668 -- are for the post of police constables, the men on the street.  The shortfall may not seem like much.  Almost every police department in the country has some vacancies due to multiple reasons, says Bengaluru’s Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic) B R Ravikanthe Gowda. “It is not…

Residents and citizen groups of Mahadevapura assembly constituency will stage a protest on Friday 9.30 am, at the Marathahalli Bridge bus stop. The #MahdevapuraDemands protest is called against elected representatives of the constituency for failing to deliver on the promises they had made on restoring civic amenities and making the area liveable. Resignation of elected representatives is one of the main demands of the protestors. The representatives here are Mahadevapura MLA Aravind Limbavali, Bengaluru Central MP P C Mohan, BBMP corporators A C Hari Prasad (Hoodi), B N Nithish Purushotham (Garudachar Palya), S Muniswamy (Kadugodi), S Uday Kumar (Hagadur), Shwetha…

You’ve probably heard about BMTC’s 'bus priority lane' pilot project in ORR (Outer Ring Road) by now. Officials are working full-time to set up infrastructure for the project, and are conducting test runs. Speaking to Citizen Matters, KR Puram Traffic Police Inspector Lokesha says they have been asked to deploy police personnel to ensure only buses ply in the priority lanes. "BMTC will gives us details after the pilot runs are completed. We will then deploy personnel depending on the number and frequency of buses," he says. Here are some quick details about this pilot : Starting November 1st, the…

Two days ago, Bengaluru Police Commissioner Bhaskar Rao tweeted that the number of traffic wardens in the city would be increased from 390 to 2500. He requested citizens to get in touch with their nearest traffic police stations to apply to be a warden. Traffic wardens are volunteers from diverse backgrounds who support the police in traffic management, especially as the city’s increasing vehicle numbers have put pressure on the latter. The wardens are part of the Traffic Warden Organisation (TWO) of Bengaluru City Police. Traffic wardens need to be on duty only 16 hours a month, but can do…

As the revised fines for traffic offences has come into effect, the Bangalore Traffic Police (BTP) has geared up for strict enforcement. If the BTP follows its current pattern of booking offences, what kind of offences would it fine the most, and how much would the department make? Previous years' data shows that the highest number of cases are booked for just two categories - 'rider without helmet' and 'pillion rider without helmet' - out of 39 categories of violations overall. This year, till August 31st, BTP booked over 14 lakh cases for driving without helmet, and another 10 lakh…

This September 1st, revised penalties for traffic violations under the new Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019, came into effect. Parliament had passed the law in July, at its budget session. The law has provisions for licensing cab aggregators, making contractors liable for faulty road design, changing license renewal rules, and so on. But what has caught the attention of citizens is the stringent penalties for road traffic violations. Citizens have taken to social media to voice their vexation on fines that add up to amounts they've never imagined paying. I was a bit taken aback by all the outrage about…

For what might come as a breath of fresh air for Bengalureans quite literally, the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) has stepped up to tackle air pollution in the city. A 44-point joint action plan has been approved by the Air Quality Monitoring Committee (AQMC) that was set up by the Karnataka government in response to a directive by the National Green Tribunal (NGT). In addition to Bengaluru, action plans have been created for Hubli-Dharwad, Davengere and Kalaburgi. These are the four ‘non-attainment cities’ in Karnataka, i.e., cities that do not meet the National Ambient Air Quality Standards. As…

If you are a person who commutes by walk to work or just likes to walk, you would understand how difficult that can be in Bengaluru - due to non-existent footpaths. Even if they exist they are usually less wide or in a decrepit state. Having to cross the roads is another herculean task. When one thinks of road accidents, rarely does one think of situations where pedestrians are involved. A study by National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) had earlier pointed to pedestrians being among the most vulnerable to road accidents, accounting for around 30-40 percent of…