Safety will continue to be the casualty

The Karnataka government has played to the gallery by reducing the recently hiked fines for traffic violations by 50% to 80%, but has in the process put public interest in jeopardy. The pre-hike fines being extremely low and affordable had hardly served as a deterrent against violations, due to which traffic rules were broken with impunity. The reduction has come at a time when the impact of heavy fines was just beginning to be felt with police recording a perceptible fall in the number of traffic violations while thousands of motorists made a beeline to obtain their driving licences and pollution under control certificates. Strong deterrents are the need of the hour as India accounts for 11% of global road accident fatalities with nearly 1.5 lakh deaths reported each year, according to the International Road Federation. Karnataka is among the top states that have a high incidence of road accidents with about 10,000 fatalities per year. Bengaluru recorded 684 road deaths in 2018, with pedestrians accounting for 40% of them, a majority of whom were killed while crossing the road.

One of the reasons why the steep fine hike met with public backlash was because policemen across the country behaved like Shylocks, overzealous to extract their pound of flesh rather than curb violations. Instead of prosecuting those who broke the rules, policemen stationed themselves at street corners pouncing on unsuspecting motorists, checking documents and collecting fines to the tune of thousands of rupees. The police donned the role of taxmen and seemed to believe that their main role was to fill the coffers by imposing fines while neglecting their primary duty of regulating traffic. Bengaluru’s additional commissioner of police (Traffic) even issued regular bulletins on the amount of fines collected but far from restoring order on the roads, such belligerent attitude only brought the police into conflict with the public.

While hefty fines alone cannot be a safeguard against accidents which are often caused by poor infrastructure, the public cannot act as if breaking traffic rules is their fundamental right. The government, however, should view the issue holistically, starting from tightening the process of issuing driving licences, which can now be easily obtained through touts. Traffic rules should be a part of school or college curriculum as Indians lack even basic driving etiquette like giving pedestrians the right of way. Besides, community service like cleaning public roads should be made mandatory in addition to fines. The Karnataka government might have earned some reprieve from public anger by reducing the fines, but its decision goes against the safety of the very people that it seeks to please.