Eight stretches in Delhi made signal-free: Police

Delhi Traffic Police on Friday said eight stretches across the national capital have been made signal-free

Delhi Traffic Police on Friday said eight stretches across the national capital have been made signal-free. At the same time, 25 more corridors have been identified for similar interventions to improve traffic flow and reduce travel time.

A feasibility survey to assess traffic flow patterns and congestion on the 25 identified corridors has already begun, special commissioner of police (traffic) Manish Agarwal said. (RAJ K RAJ /HT PHOTO)

A feasibility survey to assess traffic flow patterns and congestion on the 25 identified corridors has already begun, special commissioner of police (traffic) Manish Agarwal said.

“We have facilitated the development of eight signal-free stretches across Delhi—six in the northern traffic range and two in the eastern range. These corridors have been made signal-free through measures such as closure of redundant traffic signals and illegal median cuts, U-turn facilities, and rationalisation of intersections. Through similar measures, we are trying to develop 25 more signal-free stretches in the city,” Agarwal said during a media briefing at the Delhi Police headquarters.

According to Agarwal, the signal-free stretches have led to smoother traffic movement, reduced delays, and improved commuter convenience. Corridors such as Netaji Subhash Place (NSP) to Rithala Metro Station and Vikas Marg between Laxmi Nagar and Karkari Mor have already shown noticeable improvements in traffic flow.

Till July 7, the traffic police issued 4,842,953 challans for various traffic violations, up from 4,752,173 during the same period last year. Of these, 1,721,221 were generated through red-light violation detection (RLVD) and overspeed cameras installed across the city. Police also registered 2,187 first information reports (FIRs) for dangerous driving.

Apart from enforcement, the traffic police have expanded road safety awareness through “Traffic Pathshala”, a classroom-based initiative conducted at traffic police offices to educate violators about road safety rules.

Joint commissioner of police (traffic) Sanjay Tyagi said the department has also been engaging with residents’ welfare associations (RWAs) and market welfare associations (MWAs) under the “Synergistic Action and Networked Governance for Area Mobility” (SANGAM) initiative to seek suggestions for improving traffic management.

“Since its launch, 309 stakeholder meetings have been held, during which 514 suggestions for traffic improvement were received. Of these, 368 suggestions have already been acted upon, while the remaining 146 have been referred to the respective departments,” Tyagi said.

Additional commissioner of police (traffic) Vijayanta Goyal Arya said the road safety cell’s outreach programmes reached more than 284,000 school students between January 1 and June 30. The department also conducted awareness programmes for over 1.54 million members of the public, sensitised more than 12,000 auto, taxi and e-rickshaw drivers, trained over 11,000 Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) drivers and conductors, educated more than 5,300 corporate employees, and held programmes for RWAs, commercial vehicle drivers and other stakeholders.