Drive for bus drivers, goods carriage to enforce lane discipline gets underway
An intensive enforcement drive for bus drivers and goods carriage vehicles to ensure their adherence to the lane discipline has been started from April 1, 2022. Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot inspected the drive which commence today, at ITO intersection and interacted with the enforcement staff on ground.
The Transport Department, in consultation with Delhi Traffic Police and other stakeholders has identified 46 major corridors for implementation of the drive. The initiative will be implemented in total 3 phases having a total coverage of 474.91 km in its final phase. Phase 1 will focus on ensuring visibility and impact, while Phase 2 will expand the initiative to outer ring road and other adjoining areas.
PWD Department has been directed for installation for signages/warning signages, paining/marking of bus lanes, painting of bus boxes (thermoplastic) and removal of encroachments if any on the selected corridors. During the drive, Buses and goods carriage will have to ply in the segregated and marked lanes for 24 hours. During No Entry Timings for Goods Vehicles, Light Motor Vehicle (Non-Transport/ Private) may also ply in the earmarked Bus Lanes.
Under the section 192-A of Motor Vehicle Act, 1988, first offence will lead to Rs. 10,000/ Challan. Second offence will cause a challan and additional legal prosecution. Third offence will lead to challan, driving license suspension/cancellation and mandatory participation in 1 month driving refreshment course. Fourth offence would cause vehicle permit suspension/cancellation.
Transport Department has deployed enforcement teams in two shifts to enforce traffic discipline in bus lanes. Each enforcement team will cover the entire road length or stretch of that road, allotted to such team. A total of 138 enforcement teams have been deployed for successful implementation of the drive. This includes 14 teams from Transport Department, 17 teams from DTC, 39 teams from DIMTS and 68 other enforcement teams of Transport. Delhi Traffic Police has also been advised to prepare their own plan in consultation with enforcement teams. An announcement through megaphone to sensitize/inform the vehicle drivers to ply in bus lanes would be made during the drive. The Joint Commissioner (Enforcement), Transport Department will prepare a daily deployment plan of the Enforcement Teams.
To streamline the efforts, one nodal officer of enforcement from DTC & Cluster will be stationed at the HQ. All enforcement teams will click photos and send geo location to WhatsApp number and Challan will be issued at the end of the day centrally. A Central enforcement team will also be stationed at Kashmere Gate Command and Control Centre.
Cranes have also been deployed with the enforcement teams for impounding and removal of vehicles which are found parked/obstructing the bus lanes. A video recording/photograph with geo-location of vehicle found parked in bus lane or the heavy and goods vehicles found plying outside bus lane would be made to preserve as the evidence of such violation.
The Delhi government has also signed MOUs with civil society organizations such as SaveLIFE Foundation (SLF), BIGRS (The Bloomberg Initiative for Global Road Safety) for implementation of various road safety initiatives. It has identified nine fatality prone junction which will be improved through tactical urbanism trials during the year. SLF with Transport Department has also been implementing Anticipatory Driving and Accident Prevention Training (ADAPT) for 500 drivers engaged by DTC and affiliate bus services each year. The ADAPT program helps train drivers regardless of their educational background. Focused on day-to-day situations, the program aids high-risk commercial drivers to anticipate dangerous situations, analyze road conditions and adjust their behavior accordingly, to prevent road crashes.
Among other major drivers, the initiative is being implemented in the background of direction of the Supreme Court of India in WPC No. 13029/85 (MC Mehta Vs Union of India & Others) that all buses, heavy goods vehicles, medium goods vehicles and four wheeled light goods vehicles will be confined to earmarked bus lanes. The court has also directed that any bus and above said goods vehicles violating these orders will be treated as breach of permit condition and will be prosecuted under section 192A of the Motor Vehicle Act, 1988.
Gahlot stated: “Safety of citizens on Delhi roads is of paramount importance to us. Under the visionary leadership of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, over the last couple of years with a vision to ensure safe, accessible, smart, and sustainable transport to citizens of Delhi, we have upgraded our technology and infrastructure in our buses such as installation of CCTV cameras and panic buttons in buses, its two-way connection with integrated command-and-control center, live tracking, presence of bus marshals etc. By assigning dedicated lanes to buses and enforcement of the safety measures, we are further committed to make Delhi roads safe for our citizens, motorists, non-motorised transport and pedestrians. It would also help with reducing the traffic congestion on road. I also urge the bus commuters to wait only at the Bus stops/ Bus Queue shelters and not step onto the bus box, so that we can ensure maximum compliance to this drive. We hope to receive maximum cooperation from the citizens for the initiative.”
