Maharashtra, which ranked second in the most number of road accidents in the country last year, is likely to get separate traffic police stations in the near future.
The decision to make separate traffic police stations in addition to the existing ones has been driven by the number of crimes, accidents that take place on the roads. The move will empower the traffic policemen to investigate road death besides directing vehicular traffic.
The Maharashtra Traffic Police will soon table a proposal before the state government to have dedicated traffic police stations in every district, for better probe into the road accident cases.
Currently, the cases of road accidents are registered with local police stations, which add to the existing burden of cases. If the proposal is given the government nod, the traffic police officers will be empowered to probe the road accidents.
According to a traffic official, the local police stations are already swamped with law-and-order related cases and in such a situation the road accident cases take a back seat.
"The conviction is largely jeopardised if the fatal road accidents are not timely investigated. The cause of accidents is a large array, which includes infrastructure and climate, which has to be closely probed, not just by registering a case against the larger vehicle, which is normally the case," said the official.
The financial capital, Mumbai, could easily have at least five such dedicated traffic police stations considering the number of vehicles, which will also need additional manpower.
Traffic chowky policemen can be trained and deployed at these dedicated police stations once the proposal is approved, said an expert.
A recent data published by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways’ (MORTH) Transport Research Wing states that Maharashtra stood second with 12,788 road fatalities last year.
While the state had recorded 32,925 road accidents last year, the number of road fatalities reduced to 12,788 last year from 13,261, marking a decline of 3.6 percent.
The drop in road accidents can be attributed to the efforts taken by police and other stakeholders to create awareness among motorists and instilling road sense. This year, between January and September, over 7,600 lives were lost in road accidents in Maharashtra-- about 3 percent of them from Mumbai.
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