bengaluru traffic police

63-year-old Kamalamma (name changed) was peacefully walking with her husband at 5.30 am in a quiet locality in Bengaluru. Little did she know that fate had a terrible plan for her. Two youngsters on a bike sped past them, close enough to brush against her. Her life changed forever! She fell down, hit her head against the curb, and has been bed-ridden for the last 10 years. My dear friend lost her 17-year-old son in a road accident, when he and a friend set off on a bike to wish their friends on a new-year eve. Both of them had…

Bengaluru's bus priority lane (BPL) project was to be launched in Outer Ring Road (ORR) today, but has been postponed yet again. In the first part of this series, I explored issues with respect to the overall strategy of the project. What's also clear is that the BBMP and BMTC have not thought through many practical difficulties in implementing it. Here are some of those: BPL is actually Bus 'BMTC Priority Lane'! Presently the BPL is only for BMTC, and not for other forms of mass transport such as: State transport buses from all states Private intercity (long-distance) buses  Private buses…

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…

BBMP ups security deposit for road cutting  Roads that are dug up by various agencies are often restored poorly, due to the lack of coordination between agencies. To address this issue, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) is increasing the security deposit that agencies - including private telecoms and internet service providers - have to pay when they take permission for road cutting. The security deposit should be enhanced to 100 percent of the road restoration cost, as per a circular issued by the BBMP Commissioner B H Anil Kumar to the Palike's chief engineers. So far, the civic body…

The Bengaluru City Traffic Police has definitely made best use of technology, to make their task of enforcing rules and collecting fines easier, with the 'Enforcement Automation Centre', which issues/delivers traffic violation notices to ones doorstep. However there seem to be some aspects where improvement is possible, which will help an offender to understand their offence and pay up for it. First, the notice provides no information on the police station which has issued this notice. So, if the offender needs more information about the offence, they will first have to visit the closest traffic police station and enquire, during…

Traffic congestion in ORR is getting worse - the long term solution is moving more and more commuters to mass public transport like the Metro or  BRTS. While the jury is out on which is better and faster to implement, we are losing precious time everyday in our commute. With the intention to reduce the commute time and avoid stress in waiting at traffic signals,  Rao Ganesh Janardhan, HSR Traffic Police Inspector has put together a series of simple changes which can improve the traffic flow from Marathahalli till Central Silk Board. The first of such changes have been implemented around…

In anticipation of the possible rush of traffic at the railway station and at bus stands, the Bengaluru Traffic Police has made special arrangements for traffic on October 21st . Impacted areas include City railway station, Kempegowda bus terminal, Shanthinagar bus terminal, Mysore road bus terminal, Yeswantpur bus terminal and Chikka Lalbagh bus terminal. In addition, private vehicles will not be allowed to use some roads, and parking has been banned on some others. Do remember that KSRTC has also planned for 1,500 additional buses for the Dasara weekend, so there is bound to be more vehicles on the city roads.  …