Thursday, July 19, 2007

Cops to get boot for road mishaps

By S A Ishaqui

Hyderabad July 18: The director-general of police has decided to take stringent action on police officers who cause road accidents through oversight and negligence. In an evident attempt to curtail road mishaps, the DGP’s office has issued a circular asking district superintendents of police to “fix responsibility” for road mishaps on sub-divisional police officers and take action against them.

The responsibility of enforcing road safety rules such as preventing overcrowding in vehicles and rash driving has been vested with SDPOs and they will be held responsible if rules are violated.

Police officers can even lose their jobs if it was found that their negligence had caused a fatal accident in their jurisdiction.

“They can no longer escape by saying that it is just an accident,” said a police source. “Even age-old explanations of brake failure, low visibility and or bad road conditions may land them in trouble.” For instance, a police officer on duty in the area would also have to explain why preventive measures were not taken and why cases were not booked against those who violated traffic rules.

“They will also to be held responsible if they fail to enforce Motor Vehicle rules regarding the number of persons allowed in a vehicle,” said a senior police officer. For instance, if more than two people are found to have been in the cabin of a lorry which meets with an accident, the police officer on duty will be in trouble. A list of accident-prone roads in the State has been drawn up by the DGP’s office for special focus.

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