Cops are Towing More Illegal Parked 2-Wheelers Than 4-Wheelers- and That’s a FACT?
Mangaluru: While complimenting the new Police Commissioner Sandeep Patil for his three “Es” in regards to traffic Management, namely- Enforcement, Education and Engineering”, and his strict action in dealing with traffic violators, who drive drunk, have tinted glasses on their vehicles, shrill horns by buses, rash and over-speeding, etc- and also his initiative with adding three towing vehicles in order to curb parking violators- but on the other hand, two-wheelers are not happy with the “double standard” played by the traffic cops.
And I do agree with these two-wheelers because I have noticed it right in front of my eyes, where if 4-wheelers and 2-wheelers are parked in a no parking zone, ONLY the 2-wheelers are towed FIRST. And among the many reasons- by towing 2-wheelers the traffic police department can make more money by towing 6-7 two-wheelers at a time, while they make less money when they can tow just one 4-wheeler. For towing a 4-wheeler, the fee/fine is between Rs 1350-Rs 1100, depending on the size of the vehicle-whereas if they tow 7 two-wheelers at one time, the department can make Rs 5250 ( 7 x Rs 750). Seems like Total discrimination by the cops between 4-wheeler owners and 2-wheeler owners.
Another reason, the traffic cops are very much reluctant to tow cars, is for the fact, once someone’s 4-wheeler (imagine a high-end vehicle), the owner using his power of influence will call the higher authorities in the police department, and get it released without paying any fines. Bah humbug! And its a fact, according to a few traffic police constables. Two days ago, there were a bunch of cars and two-wheelers parked in front of Essel Wilcon/Radha Medicals, Bendore-well, the police inspector along with the towing helpers, towed away a bunch of 2-wheelers, and didn’t bother to tow a single car. This is not right, and not fair at all. Parking laws and towing action should be for all vehicles, irrespective of two or four wheelers.
Just look around the city, there are so many cars occupying the footpaths when parking is prohibited. Imagine an Audi, Mercedes or a Jaguar car parked illegally, the cops will have no guts to tow these high-end vehicles, fearing that they may get bombarded by their higher officials for doing so after the rich car owners have done a phone call to the “BIG” guys in the police department. These kinds of double standards should be stopped by the cops, instead, they should punish the rich and the poor motorists equally.
Looking at the statistics, between 2 March and 24 March 2019, the traffic police dept earned Rs 5,99,600 from towing fees- and most of the income was from towing 2-wheelers. Between the said days, 710 two-wheelers were towed, and ONLY 61 four-wheelers were towed, which clearly shows that the cops eyes are on the 2-wheeler violators. And all these towed 2-wheelers will be dropped in the parking lot of Town Hall, Mangaluru- where you can witness an argument between the violators and police. These violators come up with silly reasons in order to avoid paying the Rs 750 fine, but it all depends on the mood of the police personnel to give the violator a break or simply fine him?
While the cops are doing a good job in cracking down on illegal parking, they should treat every motorist equally, irrespective of whether a 4-wheeler driver or a 2-wheeler rider. They need to start towing 4-wheelers too, who also break parking laws just like the 2-wheelers. So why have sympathy towards the 4-wheeler violators? It’s not only the 2-wheeler owners disobey the laws, but there are also quite a few 4-wheeler owners who get away easy, through their money power and influence.
If you look around Mangaluru, on all the widened road done recently for the easy movement of traffic, but unfortunately the side portion of these roads are taken by illegally parked vehicles, including quite a number of 4-wheelers- and the cops are turning a blind eye towards them. Guess only the poor two-wheeler riders have to suffer, I guess. A humble request to the police department is that treat every motorist equally- start towing the rich owners vehicles also, and not just those 2-wheeler vehicles of a hard working pizza or a parcel delivery boy, or an office clerk. Thank you in anticipation.
PC Sandeep Patil should introduce traffic sentinels like Goa. The whole departement can be run from traffic fines while paying the sentinels a livelihood which in turn will have better road discipline, lesser traffic violations.