Chennai's semi-literate Traffic Police and corrupt policymakers

Despite having one of the fastest growth rates for automobile ownership, India's road systems are one of the most ancient and rudimentary in the world. The country has a traffic police system that is largely ignorant of requirements of proper road systems but unimaginably corrupt at the same time.

This "Third World" situation is aggravated by a rather feudal dynamic that operates on the ground - most affluent and influential Indias either cannot drive or will not do so in order to appear privileged before others.

As a result, most people at the wheel of the vehicles are either those who have never learnt to drive properly, have obtained a license through the corrupt transport bureaucracy, or are mere "coolies" employed by the rich, famous and the plainly incompetent.

Chennai, the capital of City of Tamil Nadu, now ruled by the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam of Jayalalithaa, is a classic case of an urban space that is severely constrained by incompetence of the police, corruption of both police and policymakers and a largely unorganised population of vehicle owners who do not have good infrastructure but are forced to obey road rules that are plainly rendered impractical for that reason.

Lack of good signage

Most policemen serving in the traffic police are semi-illiterate, with no knowledge of the needs of a scientific road system. They therefore know only that road stretches are earmarked as "no-entry" and use their privileged knowledge to harass motorists.

Chennai is also unique in having a few signages that are wrongly positioned and are also of the wrong colour. A permitted U turn, therefore, is given within a "Red" circle in Chennai, rather than a "Green."

Look out for such oddities the next time you are in the capital city of a state that claims for itself the mantle of software leader. Chennai's Police system led by the Commissioner, currently Mr.Natarajan, who is a member of the Indian Police Service, also has little knowledge of where the signs should be positioned.

This lack of road literacy among the enforcement machinery in Chennai has already been pointed out by Mr.Rohit Baluja, Chairman of the Institute for Road Traffic Education, New Delhi, in an interview to The Hindu in the past.

Constable No.10702

A sample case is that of Radhakrishnan Road in T.Nagar, which connects with the T.Nagar Post Office Road very close to Venkatanarayana Road.

It is not possible to know when you go from Radhakrishnan Road, where a Kalyana Mandapam is situated, that there is no entry into the post office road towards Venkatnarayana Road. Any proper road system demands that a sign be kept ON RADHAKRISHNAN ROAD, indicating that there is no turn towards Venkatnarayana Road. But that is simply asking for too much from Chennai's semi-literate traffic police. You are expected to look to your left after you enter the post office road, and realise that there is no turn there. By then, you have already committed a violation!

So you have Constable No.10702 standing at the junction with Venkatnarayana Road, on the morning of June 17 at 10.50 a.m. and he is only interested in giving you a rule violation notice, not listening to your argument that the signage at the junction is all screwed up!

But then, the Constable realises that you have a point and when you tell him that even if there is a notice, it will only mean a difficult time for the police when the motorist goes to the High Court with a writ petition under Art.226, he is willing to see reason.

Constable 10702 is only a minuscule representation the giant ignoramus that the Chennai Traffic Police is. It is a semi-literate system, one that is more interested in entrapment of rule-abiding motorists and less in running a professional road management system.

That is not very surprising. It is this same Traffic Police that was absolutely mum when the Government decided to "regularise" commercial structures built in violation of sanctioned plans. It is the same police that is unable to provide suitable parking slots for the two million or so vehicles that are now found on Chennai roads.

Media neutered

The Traffic police in Chennai are having it easy, since the Jayalalithaa Government "neutered" the media and ensured that it will no longer take on the establishment with full force. The major institution that has been all too willing to toe the line is The Hindu.

Thus it is that the pages of The Hindu no longer have a strong presence in the media space, highlighting the misuse of power and mafia style operations that are going on in Chennai - be it regarding the traffic police, the cable TV expolitation of consumers or the proliferating advertisement hoardings that do not pay taxes to the government.

In conclusion, visitors and tourists to Chennai should note that they are likely to encounter virtually a police state, with the media acting as an accomplice. If you live in Chennai, please write letters to the Editor of The Hindu, The New Indian Express and Deccan Chronicle regularly on the lack of democracy, the corruption, the ineptitude and the illiteracy in the police system.