Road Traffic enforcement aims at controlling road user
behavior through preventive persuasive and punitive
measures for the safe and efficient movement of traffic. In India
the legislation for road traffic (which is the Motor Vehicles Act)
deals primarily with laying the responsibility on motorized
traffic only. Non-motorized traffic such as hand carts operator
who are most vulnerable have no responsibility under the
current law.
Both traffic management and traffic enforcement subjects are
addressed in the current curriculum of police training
academies and institutions in India. Traffic police who
operate traffic signals and enforce traffic laws are not
provided with basi traffic engineering principles and
techniques in traffic management..
The scientific manner of understanding road traffic
violations has also not been established. Anon-standard
road environment, poor road design, and mixed traffic
conditions , a large number of drivers and other road users
tend to violate operating rules of roads resulting in a poor
road user culture.
Recent studies by IRTE have confirmed that a large number
of violations committed by road user are involuntary, which
are cased due to deficiency in road environment.
A recent Government of India reports state that over 77 %
the road accidents in India are attrinuted to drivers which
includes driver negligence and errors, and violations.
Research by the World Health Organization (WHO) and
others have shown that most of the road accidents are
preventable by instituting remedial measures that improve
driver, vehicle and road environment. Developed nations
such as UK and USA have achieved improved records of
safety I recent years by implementing such measures and
effective enforcement.
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