Helmet checking is cops? fixation

TRAFFIC POLICEMEN manning Apex Bank junction these days have a new obsession ? catch two-wheeler riders without helmets. With traffic policemen no longer appearing to be interested in their primary task of regulating the vehicular traffic, chaos reigns supreme at this traffic junction in busy New Market area.

TRAFFIC POLICEMEN manning Apex Bank junction these days have a new obsession – catch two-wheeler riders without helmets. With traffic policemen no longer appearing to be interested in their primary task of regulating the vehicular traffic, chaos reigns supreme at this traffic junction in busy New Market area.

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Jumping traffic lights, moving in the wrong lane, rash driving, over-speeding, exceeding seating capacity and all other violations of traffic rules go unchecked at this major traffic junction as traffic policemen remain focused on catching he two-wheeler riders with no helmet on.

Though the scene is almost the same on any given day for the past six months or so, higher officials have yet to wake up to the situation.

All kinds of traffic violations go. The upshot is in their bid to save themselves from the penalty, mortorcyclists and scooterists riding without helmets move back in the same lane creating further disorder.

Ironically, the policemen remain oblivious of the confusion and remain fixated on penalising the riders without helmet. A picture with this story will bear out the policemen current obsession. One can see vehicles coming from all directions in single lane and in some cases as close as to the point of collision.

And while half-a-dozen policemen, including both traffic personnel and the district police personnel are present on the spot, not a single traffic policeman is present in the traffic hut at the centre of the junction to regulate the traffic.