Feeble foundations cause structural cracks
[Points to ponder]
* Train junior officers to build confidence
* To deal with crime, drug peddling, illicit liquor barons and
underworld activities.
* Round up motorists who fail to dip headlamps during night
* Mobile patrol sqad should be conversant with motor traffic law
Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, known for his ‘no-nonsense’
attitude, demanded ‘urgent remedial action from the Police to recreate
public confidence while addressing an assemblage at Katana Police
Academy in April this year. “The Police priorities should change without
further delay to meet the peoples’ aspirations”. It is the duty of the
IGP and the Police top brass to revitalize the department by opening a
new chapter by being responsible for maintaining Law and Order, he
asserted.
Cardinal point the Defence Secretary attempted to drive through the
toughened caps of the Police hierarchy was that junior officers could
not perform effectively unless they are properly trained to experience
and build confidence.
Lankan Police Force
One cannot point a finger directly at the Lankan Police Force
wholesale as they are faced with an arduous task of satisfying every
section of the society. Despite a few rotten eggs, which have been
exposed occasionally, the Police Force needs recognition in dealing with
crime, drug peddling, illicit liquor barons and eliminating the
‘underworld’ activities progressively. But one arm of the Force which
repeatedly gets rebuked is the Traffic Section for their languorous
mind-set.
Time and again many have been crying out through the columns of
national newspapers and TV highlighting the escalating road accident
rate which cost the government billions in terms of treating victims in
hospitals. Yet, all there is to be seen is some intermittent sporadic
exercises, from area to area, during such public outcry. The tragedy is
that there does not seem to have any uniformity in enforcing the traffic
law! Naturally, such laws exist for the safety and benefit of all road
users equally throughout the country!
Dip headlamps
On November 4, Daily News highlighted Police Headquarters decision to
round up motorists, who fail to dip headlamps during night driving,
according to a Traffic Law operative from 1983. On November 5, Daily
News Editorial quite appropriately posed the question as to why this law
has not been enforced since 1983 for the last 27 years...? How many
other such Laws are confined only to a statute book and gathering dust?
What makes motorists to drive on head beams in the first place?
Everyone admits it as an irritation to other drivers but in a rational
argument, how much do the pitch-black road environments contribute
towards it?
Take Baseline-Parliament Road as an example. It looks quite
impressive, modernizing all the time, yet when dark befalls it
transforms into a death trap where there isn’t even a firefly’s light!
In addition to such misery, three wheelers, cyclists, agricultural
tractors and pedestrians shoot across in the dark compelling drivers to
switch head light on to avoid accidents. Simultaneously buckets of
sympathies are with those Police officers deployed in dark and murky
conditions to handle evening peak traffic in places such as
Welikada-Nawala Road junction, turn off to Rajagiriya, Kotte Road
linkage to name a few, who risk life and limb due to some administrative
or policy blunders by authorities responsible for illuminating the
highways.
Traffic laws
Why are roads in the metropolis in eternal darkness at night? To find
an answer to this quandary has become equally difficult where a pecking
order seems to be the order of the day when Local Councils blame the
RDA, and RDA in turn pointing a finger at the CEB while the CEB blaming
the local council and the latter criticizing the Municipal Council.
During such administrative pong-pong some excuses are thrown out as
‘non-payment’ of electricity bills! If that is the reason for this dead
lock, should such governmental ham-handed situations be allowed to
continue endlessly at the expense of motorists and the public? In such a
state of affairs the Police decision to impose fines on motorists under
mandatory regulations on head lamps can only be seen as putting the cart
before the horse!
Let’s glance through a few traffic laws at random and see to what
extent the Traffic Police have been triumphant in enforcing such
directives. Under the Motor Traffic Act, we use right hand driven
vehicles and must drive on the near side (left) of the road; overtaking
should be done only from right. What we see today is a gross violation
of the Law where almost everyone overtaking from the left! Why are
Principal Officers in charge of the traffic section turning a blind eye
to this dreadful infringement of the law perpetually?
Motorcyclists who parade in convoys during peak hours on pavements is
yet another menace. When motorcyclists are allowed to invade pavements,
it not only makes the Government’s efforts in spending millions on new
payment erection a travesty but hampers its intended purpose and
inconveniences the pedestrians.
Death traps
Push cycle riders moving about without lights on them can be called
death traps in motion. Although it is also an offence under the traffic
law, Police is turning a blind eye to such blatant violation of the law
for which no answers can be found!
Enforcing the law on motorists driving at night without dipping their
head lamps is certainly a good move but the question is how on earth a
Police officer going to stop an errant motorist while he, himself, is
standing in the dark? Today unfortunately a situation prevails where
neither a Police officer on duty in the night could be seen filtering
traffic from dark positions or officer’s whistle could be heard in the
hustle and buzzle of night time traffic conditions. Training of Police
officers on the Motor Traffic Law becomes paramount before they are
thrown into the proverbial deep end in traffic duties as the Defence
Secretary suggested. A mobile patrol squad fully conversant with the
Motor Traffic Law at all odd hours empowered to monitor and impose heavy
fines on all those who break the law would greatly facilitate in
resolving the present chaotic situation on our roads. This should
primarily start with nabbing motorists overtaking from the left as
number one priority. A stable foundation is the basis for any rock-solid
structure. In that sense, it’s high time that we take note of the
structural cracks visible in the execution of the Motor Traffic Law and
take remedial action prior to its total breakdown.
[email protected]
In Focus - November 8, 2010
My dear Dr Fernando,
The crucial need is to find competent journalists who have the ‘power
and ability’ to MAKE OPEN the minds and eyes of decision makers. I
honestly feel, we are privileged to have in you such an eminent
personality, with that most important human qualities - a rare gem these
days. A very big thank to you, on behalf of several millions of people
here, who are often marginalised and disadvantaged in daily life through
dis-Abling buildings and facilities, for that finest published in the
best possible page and position, where only a blind can miss it. -
Ajith Perea |