The Indian road rules, titled “Rules of the Road Regulation”, brought into effect in 1989, cover seven major traffic offences related to documents, driving, towing, pollution, motor vehicles, commercial vehicles and parking.
In Jammu and Kashmir, wrong parking, non-possession of driving licence or registration certificate of the vehicle and driving without a helmet are the only cognisable offences while many in the list of 117 other offences either go unnoticed or do not catch the attention of the Traffic Department.
Most of the offences are penalised through cash payment or imprisonment or both.
During the day, traffic policemen are commonly seen at check posts in the city, keeping a vigil on two-wheeler riders. A defaulter caught by them is generally asked to show documents of the vehicle while those driving four wheelers are occasionally asked to stop or not checked at all.
However, during the night, there is no one to keep a check on traffic violators. The Traffic Department has already expressed its helplessness to check violators during night, citing manpower shortage.
This has made plying during the night dangerous as most of the drivers defy traffic rules, including the need to use low beam and high beam.
“All drivers keep their vehicles on high beam, flashing the light into the eyes of the driver coming from the other side. This results in vision loss for a few seconds and is also the reason for many accidents. Many times, drivers break into a scuffle as they blame each other for not following traffic laws,” said a vehicle owner at Subhashnagar, recalling his nightmarish escape during an accident.
Using a high beam when not required is punishable with Rs 100 fine under Section 112 (G) A of the Motor Vehicles Act. But as per the challan records of the traffic police, seldom a case can be found over the past many years when a penalty was imposed on anybody.
Also, there is a mandatory guideline for all two and four wheelers to cover half of their lights with black paint —- a provision to keep the light at low beam.
However, not a single vehicle abides by the rule.
A senior traffic police officer said no stringent traffic law was applicable in the state. He said the heavy rush of vehicles had made it impossible for the department to take cognisance of each offence.
“The department is finding it difficult to regulate traffic in cities as we are short of manpower. Also, as the state is sensitive, our main focus remains on tracking the suspected movements for which we remain in constant touch with the state police. Going by all traffic rules in such a scenario becomes impossible,” he said.
Only 4 of 117 traffic violations catch eye of police
