An eye-catching drive to reduce violation of road rules, accidents

Greater City Traffic Police campaign aims to create a mindset for zero violations, penalties, and accidents among motorists.

No motorist can miss the attractive yellow flyers — Zero is Good — at every junction of the city. They have created curiosity among the motorists. The Greater City Traffic Police say the campaign, launched on August 6, is aimed at creating a mindset among the people to ensure zero violation, zero challan, zero penalty, and zero accident. The traffic police launched the 20-day campaign, culminating in Zero Accident Day planned for August 26, to enhance road safety and promote responsible driving. Each day of the campaign is dedicated to specific awareness programmes and approaches. The police aim to sensitise the people to the importance of road safety and adherence to traffic rules and to the collective responsibility of ensuring safe roads for all. The campaign has gained the attention of the road-users.

K. Jayakumar of Chromepet, a driver of the Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC), says, “An accident-free city is very important. I have been serving [the MTC] for more than 27 years without causing any accident. The city has grown rapidly. The number of vehicles has increased manifold. Many motorists are seen driving their vehicles without discipline. This campaign may inculcate responsibility in the motorists.”

Muthulakshmi of Vadapalani, a food delivery executive, says, “The police have also launched a new programme involving food delivery executives. We are being honoured for driving a vehicle without any accident all these years. This will serve as an inspiration for others.”

A total of 12 important stakeholders were identified as road-users and awareness campaigns were conducted for them to improve their behaviour while driving. Among the stakeholders are parents accompanying children to schools, MTC drivers, information technology employees, college students, auto/cab drivers, e-commerce employees, hospital staff, and residential associations.

As part of the Zero Accident Day campaign, the traffic police also launched an initiative to enhance compliance with the helmet rule by distributing pamphlets to school students and others. It also highlighted the fact that the lowest compliance rate was observed among the parents transporting their children to schools. “Two-wheeler riders accounted for 1,53,341 cases of violation until August 7 and pillion-riders accounted for 1,04,721 cases of violation. Despite 90% compliance among the riders, only 63% of the pillion-riders adhere to the rule,” the police said.

The police said that nearly 8,500 cases of violation by e-commerce delivery executives had been recorded so far this year. After the COVID-19 pandemic, 40,000 to 60,000 delivery executives have been working across platforms such as Swiggy, Zomato, BigBasket, Blinkit, Dunzo, and Amazon. Most of these workers, predominantly males aged 18-30, work part-time or flexibly. A recent study pointed to the frequent traffic violations committed by delivery personnel: speeding, signal-jumping, and non-compliance with the helmet rule, especially at peak hours.

Advising the autorickshaw drivers to follow the rules, the police said violation of the ‘no-entry’ zones accounted for 50% of the cases booked for traffic rule violations. The use of mobile phones while driving accounted for 3% of the cases and the violation of the no-parking areas constituted 10%, the police said.