Overloaded vehicles obstruct traffic flow

Violating Rules

It’s quite common to see two wheelers and four wheelers on City’s roads flouting the rules. Aggravating the confusion is the increasing number of goods vehicles, which carry extremely heavy loads through the City, although the traffic police points out that heavy goods vehicles can ply on the roads only after 8.30 pm.

Listing out the cases booked against such vehicles, B Dayanand, additional commissioner of police (traffic), says that cases of reckless and negligent driving, driving without licence, over-speeding, wrong parking and

driving into a no-entry zone, have been booked against these vehicles.

He assures that there is a strict watch on such vehicles and the violation of rules. “There were 6,08,934 cases booked against goods vehicles in 2012, and this year, from January till July, cases booked are 2,84,249,” informs Dayanand.

These vehicles are making life difficult for the common man. BC Jain, a businessman says, “For the thousands of commuters making their way to and from their offices everyday, the journey can often be a fraught affair. Entry of overloaded vehicles into the City during daytime should be strictly banned to ensure smooth flow of traffic. These vehicles block the view when they are in front of two wheelers or four wheelers.” He suggests putting up signboards about time restrictions across the City to educate people.

“Since many businessmen depend on such vehicles to transport their goods, there are many such vehicles on the roads. There should be separate authorities to keep a stricter watch on problems caused by goods vehicles,” he adds.

Nisha, a travel consultant, says that she has seen heavy vehicles with heavy loads on many roads, including jam-packed roads like Double Road and Bannerghatta Road. “While transporting goods on a regular basis, one would think that these vehicles would be more careful with their loads. But I’ve noticed quite often that many of these vehicles have loads which are almost double the capacity they can carry. Such goods vehicles with heavy loads should be allowed to ply through the City limits only before 5 am or after 10 pm,” says Nisha.

She adds that open gunny bags and huge long rods are often seen on big vehicles, which is quite a scary sight. “The traffic police should come up with stricter rules and impose heavy fines to ensure a check on this,” says Nisha.

The huge loads often exceed the permitted amount to be carried on these vehicles. A joint commissioner of transport informs that overloading of weight on these vehicles are fined by the RTO. “In 2012, 3113 cases of overloading were booked and a fine of Rs 1,88,00,000 was collected. In 2013, from January till August, 735 cases were booked and a fine amount of Rs 46 lakh has been collected,” he says.

An overloaded vehicle is fined Rs 2,000 per offence, with Rs 1,000 for every extra tonne. “Excessive loads defined on dimensions like height, length and weight are fined between Rs 100 and Rs 300,” he adds.

Voicing out the problems caused by such huge vehicles on the roads, Ananth Bhat, a product manager says, “I often ply on the roads between Koramangala and Whitefield and this is a common sight on this stretch. Fundamentally, big vehicles with huge loads should not be allowed to travel with the normal traffic and should be driven on a separate lane.”

He adds, “Two-wheeler riders and smaller vehicles are often scared that they will be crushed, if a load falls off. Also, there are ignorant riders who try to overtake such vehicles to avoid lagging behind. This creates more confusion on the road,” he wraps up.