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Public Eye is the invisible eye of traffic police: Addl.CP (Traffic) Saleem
September 03, 2015• By Team ICMYC

In a city that is perpetually witnessing burgeoning traffic, almost 80 per cent of traffic violations go unreported, states Dr M.A. Saleem, Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic). In an exclusive interview with ichangemycity.com, Saleem speaks about the need to curtail traffic violations and the importance of an initiative like Public Eye.
How many traffic violations are reported on a daily basis in Bengaluru?
We book about 20,000 cases in Bengaluru city against the violators of traffic rules, out of 20,000 cases around 12,000 cases are booked through BlackBerries, handheld devices held by traffic police officers at ground level, and 8,000 cases are booked through contact-less modes, that is, surveillance cameras, digital cameras, and enforcement cameras.
How much money is collected in fines?
Every day we collect about Rs 20 lakhs in fines, and it comes to Rs 6 crore per month and Rs 70 crores annually.
Why are traffic fines so low in our state? Don’t you agree that such low fines fail to serve as a deterrent to citizens?
The amount fixed for fines are common throughout the country, as the Motor vehicle Act is common for the entire country. Fines are same across the nation right from Jammu and Kashmir to Kerala. The State Government has no authority to raise the fines. That is why the fine amount, which has been fixed in the year 1988, is very low.
Would you advocate for an increase in fines?
The Sundar committee which was constituted by the Government of India to look into the deterrence level for traffic violations has recommended hefty fines for traffic offences. The bill is in the Parliament, and the minimum fine amount has been envisaged as Rs 500, and even jail term for some of the offences has also been proposed.
What is the approximate number of violations that go unreported in the city where traffic continues to swell on a daily basis?
Almost 80 percent cases are unreported. We estimate nearly one lakh people violate traffic rules in the city every day. Out of that, only 20,000 cases are registered. Police are not omnipresent in most of the places, it is not possible to book all the violators of traffic rule in the city.
How will public eye enable the traffic police to bring the errant to book and how will citizens enable the police to do this?
Public Eye is the invisible eye of traffic police where citizens act as traffic policemen because in particular residential areas where traffic policemen are not present, generally the citizens themselves take photographs or the video clippings of violations noted, for example someone is parking in a No Parking zone or someone is riding without helmet or someone is driving while speaking on cell phone or driving without seat belt. Such visible violations are captured on camera by citizens themselves and are uploaded on to the Public Eye portal of the website. Through that we issue notices to the concerned owners of the vehicles.
How does the police plan on dealing with false reports or complaints?
Each and every case reported to us through Public Eye is good enough. The sender is encouraged to send in all the details. Some personal details are also required as these cases might end up in the court. Secondly, we verify the date, time and actual place of occurrence of the violation. If everything is in order then notices are issued.
What message will you give to citizens to encourage them to use the ICMYC platform and Public Eye?
IChangeMyCity is a good initiative wherein a separate portal is being developed wherein the verification of these details can be done much more easily. What happens in the present system is that we reject any incomplete post or an incomplete case which comes to us but ICMYC since there is interaction with the citizen who already has sent those details, he can be properly trained, maybe able to send all the details required by law. So definitely IChangeMyCity campaign will definitely help in increasing the reporting of violations and also bring more discipline on roads, which is very important to make the city more safe and livable.