Oxygen booth for traffic policemen

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The police will install an oxygen booth for the
benefit of constables who endure long hours of vehicular pollution,
dust and heat to regulate traffic on the city roads.City Police
Commissioner Ravada Azad Chandrasekhar said a private mobile telephone
service provider had agreed to help the police set up the proposed
oxygen booth at the Traffic Police Station, Pattom.He said traffic
police personnel could refresh themselves by inhaling pure oxygen
inside the booth.Official sources said the traffic police faced a
severe shortage of men and equipment.Its current staff strength (69
head constables and 219 constables) was fixed on the basis of the
traffic situation in the city in 1994.In 14 years, the city has grown
in size and its vehicle population has increased. However, there has
been no corresponding expansion of the traffic constabulary. "We are
struggling to operate. Most policemen are doing two shifts a day," an
official said.Head constables primarily responsible for investigation
of traffic accident cases are deployed to monitor traffic in front of
educational institutions and other congested areas of the city for the
better part of the day, thus inadvertently causing delay in
prosecution.The courts solely relied on the manpower of the traffic
constabulary to serve summons and execute warrants in traffic offence
cases. Ideally, the traffic constabulary would require at least 400
constables and 150 head constables to meet its current duties. The
traffic police have no specialised equipment to check the speed or
emission levels of vehicles.Its only speed sensing radar has been
lying in a state of disrepair for the past several years. The
constabulary has only one recovery truck for salvaging vehicles
involved in accidents. It is unable to deploy sufficient men and
vehicles for traffic enforcement duty at night.There has been no
let-up in the number of accidents in the city. More than 134 persons
were killed and 1,312 grievously injured in road accidents in the city
till November 30, 2008.Rash and negligent driving and drunk-driving
had caused most of the accidents. Stringent enforcement of traffic
norms, particularly at night, was one way of bringing down the
accident rate in the city

The Hindu, 14th December 2008