Highway Police mulling over Traffic Police Station in every distt
| Date :02-Nov-2020 |
By Dheeraj Fartode :
It is no secret that road accidents are one of the biggest reasons of untimely deaths in India. It is only logical then that steps are taken to fix the problem or at least lower its intensity. It is with this intention that the State Highway Police is preparing a proposal regarding setting up of a Traffic Police Station in all police units of Maharashtra for in-depth study of road accidents, their causes and eventually find solutions to avoid similar ones in future.
The key factors these traffic police stations will be working on would be finding actual cause of an accident so that the real culprit can be suitably punished and if the accidents are caused due to non-human factors then corrective steps are taken to avoid the same in future. The proposal will be forwarded to the State Government for approval next month. Sources informed that the Traffic Police Stations would be set up on lines of Cyber Police Stations.
They would carry out scientific study and identify factors behind every fatal or serious accident. This is expected to improve conviction rate as well under Section 304 (a) of the Indian Penal Code, which is very low in the State presently. The section pertains to negligence by the driver causing death in road accidents. A police official said, “As is the regular procedure, the concerned police station registers First Investigation Report (FIR) in accident case mentioning -- The accident occurred as another vehicle was rashly and negligently driven. Another pertinent point in this process is that police registers offence against the bigger vehicle irrespective of who was actually at fault. “Small vehicles also cause accidents but they are let off by police on the basis of an assumption and it has become a practice now,” he said.
After registering the FIR, police often do not pay attention to the case and chargesheet is sent to the court without proper study of the case or accident. Hence, conviction rate in Section 304 (a) cases is very low in the State, the official said, adding that around 1.5 lakh people are killed in 5 lakh accidents across the country every year. After occurrence of accident, the police authority should study factors behind the mishap. Many a time, accident occurs due to bad engineering of roads, weather factors or poor infrastructure. If police studies these factors and write to the concerned authority for corrective measures then the number of accidents and road fatalities can be brought down, the official said.
It will save many lives : ADG Dr Upadhyay Additional Director General of Police (ADGP), Maharashtra Traffic, Dr Bhushan Kumar Upadhyay informed ‘The Hitavada’ that the proposal was being prepared to contain the number of road accidents in the State. “It will be very useful for people as roads will become safer. After formation of traffic police station, the concerned police officials will focus on the causes of road accidents and how to improve conviction rate in accident cases,” he said.