Indian Roads Thread

Sridhar K · Post by **Sridhar K** » 16 Jun 2012 11:02

ajit.d wrote:Folks,

I am planning for a trip to tirupathi from Chennai. Heard that the Tiruvallur Tiruthani section is potholled and badly patched up. Also, looks like 4 laning work in progress from Nagari to Puttur. Any idea how the old route via Nagalapuram is?

Thanks!
Ajit

Redhills to Surutappalli via periyapalam is ok ok. Surruttapalli to Nagalapuram is excellent but puttur to Tirupati is again lots of road work and too much of traffic. The other option is Naidupetta kalahasthi Tirupathi. Even though the distance is higher, the road is in very good condition.

Aditya_V · Post by **Aditya_V** » 16 Jun 2012 11:14

[quote="Sridhar KRedhills to Surutappalli via periyapalam is ok ok. Surruttapalli to Nagalapuram is excellent but puttur to Tirupati is again lots of road work and too much of traffic. The other option is Naidupetta kalahasthi Tirupathi. Even though the distance is higher, the road is in very good condition.[/quote]

14 years ago, this was a single lane road, is it much broader now?

Sridhar K · Post by **Sridhar K** » 16 Jun 2012 14:36

Aditya_V wrote: 14 years ago, this was a single lane road, is it much broader now?

It is a two lane road now and have seen a few volvos plying on them as well.

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 16 Jun 2012 21:33

Now, the trees are but old fixtures in the landscape, like old people, grandparents and elders, suddenly out of place in a redefined world, suddenly unwanted. And when the old trees fall, the countryside is bereft, like families broken.

Widening roads at any cost represents a one-dimensional view of progress that compromises other human values, capabilities, and needs, which are all not really fungible. Our increasing disconnect with these values and capabilities only erodes the deep wells of tolerance and breeds alienation between people and nature, land and culture. There are better roads, so to speak, to take, and there is time yet to take them.

right solution :

don't touch the old infrastructure if one needs to maintain history.. rather build new entirely new ones either parallel or at distance. why is there no such thought for the future? also, one can think about future designs, with tamrind trees too. plan ahead, to chart on a better story.

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 17 Jun 2012 03:52

According to the report on operational efficiency of freight transportation by road in India, no appreciable difference was noted in terms of average speed of vehicles, mileage, stoppage delays per km and stoppage expenses per tonne-km between 2008-09 and 2011-12. The report estimated that stoppage delays cost the economy approximately Rs. 27,500 crore per annum, and the impact of additional fuel consumption due to stoppage delays and slow speed of vehicles was around Rs. 60,000 crore.

The report called for immediate development of new roads, and widening and maintenance of the existing roads, besides shifting to electronic toll collection system, as the present one delayed each freight vehicle by approximately five to 10 minutes.

It also called for access-controlled expressways, and suggested that at least 18,637 km of expressway be built in the 13 Five-Year Plan. At present, India has just 600 to 700 km of access-controlled expressway, as against 74,000 km in China.

will I be alive to cherish many of these..

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 17 Jun 2012 09:40

30 KIA in a volvo crash in AP yesterday enroute to Shirdi. driver was driving too fast and fell off a bridge. KIA includes 8 TCS freshers from Hyd per toi.

looking at youtube videos it seems volvos and mercedes buses drive like crazy on the mumbai-pune expway as well.

in US too, bus crashes are usually pretty devastating and always cause fatalities....I-95 and garden state parkway(NJ) are famous for this.

chaanakya · Post by **chaanakya** » 17 Jun 2012 10:35

‘Fuel consumption rising mainly due to poor roads'
Open Secret now revealed by an IMM study. I hope it changes the mindset of planners designers and implementers and put in sufficiently high standards for Road. Linked to it is the topic of Safety.

Amidst the raging politics on petroleum pricing, a report has established that the country was losing Rs. 87,500 crore because of poor roads and tolling systems annually.

The figure gains significance against the backdrop of desperate attempts by the Union government to curb the subsidy outgo on petroleum products that puts a drain of approximately Rs. 1.38 lakh crore on the exchequer.

Going by the report, prepared by IIM-Calcutta on behalf of Transport Corporation of India, the stated loss of Rs. 60,000 crore accounts for almost 43 per cent of the drain the government is said to suffer due to growing consumption of diesel, kerosene, and LPG.

As a matter of fact, the loss due to defective road system is more than the under-recoveries on diesel, reported by the Petroleum Ministry, which was Rs. 81,192 crore in 2011-12, though it is estimated to rise to Rs. 1.07 crore in 2012-13.

Union Minister of Rural Development, Jairam Ramesh, has called for immediate steps to bring down the burden, and Petroleum Minister S. Jaipal Reddy has proposed a hefty additional tax on diesel vehicles.

The move has been opposed by Heavy Industry Minister Praful Patel, standing by the cause of the automobile manufacturers who are worried such a move would affect one segment of the industry that was already reeling under the impact of the global financial crisis.

According to the report on operational efficiency of freight transportation by road in India, no appreciable difference was noted in terms of average speed of vehicles, mileage, stoppage delays per km and stoppage expenses per tonne-km between 2008-09 and 2011-12. The report estimated that stoppage delays cost the economy approximately Rs. 27,500 crore per annum, and the impact of additional fuel consumption due to stoppage delays and slow speed of vehicles was around Rs. 60,000 crore.

The report called for immediate development of new roads, and widening and maintenance of the existing roads, besides shifting to electronic toll collection system, as the present one delayed each freight vehicle by approximately five to 10 minutes.

It also called for access-controlled expressways, and suggested that at least 18,637 km of expressway be built in the 13 Five-Year Plan. At present, India has just 600 to 700 km of access-controlled expressway, as against 74,000 km in China.

vishvak · Post by **vishvak** » 17 Jun 2012 13:52

MNS activists attack toll posts across Maharashtra
Any idea about average time for which a toll post would operate?

...
"It is not wrong to impose toll, but to keep on collecting it even after the costs have been recovered is wrong," Thackeray said. The MNS chief also raised doubts over the manner in which the toll collection was being carried out across the state "without any transparency".
...
"What is the cost of the project; within what period has the cost been recovered; how many vehicles pass through these toll posts daily. Nothing is displayed at the posts. Yet, collections are being carried out. All these questions need to be answered," Thackeray demanded.
..
Mumbai, India's financial capital, has five entry points, which generate an estimated annual revenue of over Rs. 2 billion on an average from toll collection, one of the major sources of income for the state government.

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 17 Jun 2012 23:38

Capacity planning is never implemented. No plan should ignore population and usability aspects into considerations, which is totally absent.

for example, we have a direct comparison with maasan infrastructure, and compare we don't even compare.. ground facts are that we have totally different sets of needs, and our road use is totally non-standard, with totally non-standard vehicles and usage.

when we build roads, proper standardization should be done to ensure, capacity, usage, population, and type of vehicles that are allowed to ply.

let alone speed, length, width and lane discipline.. which is totally people centric.

Sachin · Post by **Sachin** » 18 Jun 2012 11:17

vishvak wrote:Any idea about average time for which a toll post would operate?

I guess the contract or agreement between the agency which built the road, and the government clearly says the amount and duration for the toll collection. But this is never really revealed to the public. What then happens is that the contractor happily continues to collect the toll fees even when his investment and profit has already been made. Once in a blue moon the people realise that this has been going on for too long and make a protest. Especially at places where the tolls are like less than five rupees and many non-local people use the road/bridge, the contractor can make quite a lot of money.

krishnan · Post by **krishnan** » 18 Jun 2012 11:20

I keep wondering the same thing when ever i pass through the "perungudi" toll gate....

habal · Post by **habal** » 18 Jun 2012 12:58

You should file an RTI on the status of the toll road. Most often, it yields immidiate results.

ajit.d · Post by **ajit.d** » 18 Jun 2012 13:11

Thanks Aditya_V & Sridhar. Went by the Tada/Srikalahasthi Route and came back via Nagalapuram, Tiruvallur. Both the routes were excellent. The stretch from Uthukottai to Tiruvallur was in a state of repair - but was able to maintain 40-60 on that stretch.

Thanks for your help

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 18 Jun 2012 19:56

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Hyd ... epage=true

may be RTI'ed people are thinking Indian roads on lane equals Montana and Auto Bahn!

absolutely shooting themselves in the foot.

Theo_Fidel · Post by **Theo_Fidel** » 18 Jun 2012 20:52

SaiK wrote:http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Hyd ... epage=true

may be RTI'ed people are thinking Indian roads on lane equals Montana and Auto Bahn!

absolutely shooting themselves in the foot.

What does RTI have to do with. Sounds like young punks with no experience in Expressway driving. My experience is RTI people are usually the safest and law abiding and most experienced drivers. Indian drivers have no clue how anticipate danger, understanding of braking distances, insurance costs and impact of your vehicle on others. Do not make such blanket statements.

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 18 Jun 2012 22:34

I take that back.. it does not make sense..

I was thinking posting in RTI, a related thought, but happened to visit this thread.

you are right.. it is always youngsters who get into road problems generally speaking.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 19 Jun 2012 07:44

+1 to Theo. my wife was reporting her taxi driver to make up for lateness was driving @ 140 in Indica on NICE road yesterday. at that speed even a tire burst can result in fatal accident and the indica isnt known for its high degree of road holding or safety features.
I strictly asked her to come down hard on him via HRD if he speeds anymore.

Aditya_V · Post by **Aditya_V** » 19 Jun 2012 11:07

Theo_Fidel wrote:
SaiK wrote:http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Hyd ... epage=true

may be RTI'ed people are thinking Indian roads on lane equals Montana and Auto Bahn!

absolutely shooting themselves in the foot.
What does RTI have to do with. Sounds like young punks with no experience in Expressway driving. My experience is RTI people are usually the safest and law abiding and most experienced drivers. Indian drivers have no clue how anticipate danger, understanding of braking distances, insurance costs and impact of your vehicle on others. Do not make such blanket statements.

And Many of my felllow countrymen don't understand logic. 11 years ago when my dad was buying a Ford Ikon, the Sales Manger and Dealer came home since they heard we were swtiching cars got into an aurgument with me that the braking distance from 100 to 0 for Ford Ikon was 8 feet- Yes 8 feet, when I told them that for Mercedes BMW at that time with was 33- 36 meters- AKA around 130 foot, they pooh poohed what does a Commerce Graduate know.

We really need to educate people about how driving is social responsibility and not a drag race, defensive driving is unheard of in our Nation

Sachin · Post by **Sachin** » 19 Jun 2012 11:36

Aditya_V wrote:We really need to educate people about how driving is social responsibility and not a drag race, defensive driving is unheard of in our Nation

. Most likely if some one tries doing that he would be labelled a sizzy, cry-a-baby and what not. The poor fellow would be told that he is not macho enough. Unfortunately in our country any thing which shows a bit of politeness is taken as being too defensive. Jumping queues, offensive driving all our taken as big time ego boosters.

Theo_Fidel · Post by **Theo_Fidel** » 19 Jun 2012 20:20

Good one Sachin, Indian drivers are all offense is best form of defense, etc.

My personal opinion, which I share with most RTI types is that there is no road in India that is safe for above 60 kmph driving. The risk is simply too great. Non-access controlled streets can never be engineered for anything greater.

In my personal experience safest place to drive was Japan. I felt like out of control Ape in that perfectly orchestrated traffic. The way they merge on to expressways is truly magical and I spent some time just merging onto traffic to experience the smoothness of it.

Americans were truly atrocious drivers at one time and still are horrible. If you ever take I-45 through Houston, it has to be the worst bunch of drivers in any road. I even had a couple of wrong way drivers a la India!

The thing about USA is everyone, and I mean everyone, has been through several major wrecks and totaled at least a couple of cars, including myself. Everyone knows someone who has paid dearly for being on the road and they are remembered.

That is what I meant when I said RTI people have experience. It is usually 'earned' experience and caution. Nothing innate.

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 19 Jun 2012 20:27

most desis causing wrecks are imho, because of inexperience or in the excitement of new found land freedom to drive and explore without having to stop and go like in desh. it takes quite a bit of time to come out of that craziness especially in youth days (<30s). And most wrecks (stats) are below 30s, and 90% of them are DWIs.

horrible drivers in maasan roads are chippandas.. just horrible. they cause others accident, and some how escape by doing all the wrong things on the road. they are fit to drive in hyderabad.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 19 Jun 2012 20:53

a guy we knew was taking his new merc for a spin. now he takes the wrong exit and realises it too late. so he cleverly decides to back down the ramp to the expway shoulder and move along. now a panda driver is coming from behind and rear ends him. due to lack of comm skills in engrish, the cops give the panda driver a ticket and sends our man on his merry way heh heh.

as the saying goes, dont be the last zebra in the herd.

massa roads being a bit wide and better designed there is more margin for some error as FOBs find their feet in the fighter fleet. infact going and learning in massa and then r2i is probably a better way to educate a driver than simply paying the small bribe/fee to get and learn here in teenage...these teenage learners are the most chalu types

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 19 Jun 2012 21:04

another good feature in maasan roads are rumble strips.. many a times I have saved myself from knocking at chitragupt's door when I dose off for a sec on long distance. luckily, interstates in mid-west is less congested than the East or west.

thanks to those rest areas.. and shq's ginger chai + masala wada. Larger cities always have more accidents than smaller ones., just because of traffic density.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 19 Jun 2012 21:11

I think given the general low skill levels, high confidence levels and lack of driver education in US + powerful vehicles, the US "system" does a yeoman job of controlling the chaos , herding cats and enforcing some order in the jungle.

not as homogenously TFTA as germany or japan, but its a much larger country, with a diversity of roads and conditions ranging from desert to pure arctic.

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 19 Jun 2012 21:17

one has to appreciate the engineering.. turn radius and angle is designed per the mileage posted, exit and entry ramps planned per again speed limits and traffic capacity, restrictions based on traffic conditions, and rules enacted many a times based on facts - no u turn, no turn on red, etc. I even liked the turn lanes in the middle, for traffic turning either ways. every aspect of road use is thought carefully and planned, plus engineered for high usability.

Theo_Fidel · Post by **Theo_Fidel** » 19 Jun 2012 21:38

The single most dangerous group of drivers in massaland is teenage girls.

3 of my accidents with 2 totaled cars was due to inattentive girls. The second one was my brand new Audi!

After almost killing me, her bumper ended up in the middle of my back seat, and running a red light the 19 year old twit then picked up the cellphone from the car where it had fallen, still connected to her mom, and started giving a wailing play by play on her condition. Police had to threaten to arrest her to get her off the phone.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 19 Jun 2012 21:42

esp with multiple teenagers in the car.

then there are some peculiar h&d types who are kind of drunk and in a depression...slouched back and driving slowly....so you cross them and suddenly they are wide awake and speeding suddenly to recross and restore lost honour. we had such a guy weave in and out of traffic on garden state parkway in NJ for a miles and miles because he decided to pick a 'fight' with us - that too at night.

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 19 Jun 2012 22:06

it could be drugs too.

yeah those maasan teenagers are hell bent on fighting, especially with desis.

at traffic stops, they invite you to drag race by pumping up the gas!.. many a times I have responded by acknowledging I am ready to do it, by rev up my stick shift car.. these guys get an adrenalin gush.. and begin calculating time to green from the time yellow happens on the other side.

so, when you act to rev up for few distance... then within speed limits become normal, these teenagers are already at 60mph with their modified mufflers and weirdly painted convertibles. just adding to what I can, so that if there happened to be a cop, would fall in his radar sooner than no race condition exists.

the heck, these guys are smarter with latest and greatest gadgets and lidar detectors and passive systems. but, I am sure most teenagers who get into accidents are some sort of mentally upset or under influence etc.

Sachin · Post by **Sachin** » 20 Jun 2012 10:24

SaiK wrote:the heck, these guys are smarter with latest and greatest gadgets and lidar detectors and passive systems. but, I am sure most teenagers who get into accidents are some sort of mentally upset or under influence etc.

How effective are these LIDAR or RADAR detectors? From what I read about it, the police are not overtly bothered with this device. Because they say, by the time the detector picks a LIDAR or RADAR signature, the LIDAR/RADAR have already given the reading to the police man. There is no point for the erring driver to slam on the brakes.

In one case it seems a driver got so irritated when the cops pulled him up for over-speeding. He had fixed a detector but the device did not warn him in advance. In a fit of rage, he pulls out the device and slams it on the road. In that particular state, fixing such a device was also illegal. So our "Rage Boy" driver gets two charges. Over speeding plus fixing the device.

PS: In Bengaluru city we had the first encounter with the "Bengaluru's finest" after a long time, last Sunday. SHQ was at the wheels and we had to drop a couple of guests in the city. Sunday morning, we are moving on good piece of road. There is a small curve, and the road dips down a bit there. 750 meters away was parked the "Interceptor". A police man started crossing the road, and we knew we had been picked. Pulled over, and I walk upto the SI. Fine for over speeding was INR 300. He punches my vehicle # in his blackberry device. The device then within seconds comes up with three other offences as well (signal jumpings done last year, and one parking violation for the year before that). The fine becomes INR 600 now. The wireless printer device prints the receipt. The offences and their place of occurence and time is also printed. All over in less than 5 mins.

Dilbu · Post by **Dilbu** » 20 Jun 2012 10:43

That is impressive. I hope it gets implemented all over the country.

Theo_Fidel · Post by **Theo_Fidel** » 20 Jun 2012 10:50

Sachin,

In the flat Midwest you can pick up a radar/laser signature from 5 miles away over the horizon. You need the high quality $400 devices though, the cheap Chinese mall that can't pickup frequency jumps. This is usually long before cop can even see you. It definitely works hence the ban order by states.

It is good to know Bengluru is a TFTA computerized. In massaland traffic tickets is a major source of revenue for cities. It always amused me that Indian cities have never cottoned on to this large chunk of cash. It is relatively trivial to hire a couple of traffic judges, higher 50-100 professional ticket writers and get them to issue about 4,000-5,000 parking/traffic violations a day. An easy Rs 2,000 crore into the cities kitty annually.

There are a couple of cities near here that depend on it for 60%+ of their income by running out state speed traps. I got caught in one for going at 63 in a 60 zone. He was so excited to see an out state plate that he didn't realize he was going to issue me a ticket for $18. His face fell as he handed it to me. I had my traffic lawyer call the county clerk and they cut a 'deal' to wipe it of my record for $40. I paid up. Don't mess with the system in massaland.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 20 Jun 2012 11:00

its possible to pay traffic fines online using bangaloreone site and I have done so.
some cops nowadays dont use notebooks to write registration numbers of jumping vehicles, they use a digital camera for convenience.

Sachin · Post by **Sachin** » 20 Jun 2012 11:30

Theo_Fidel wrote:In massaland traffic tickets is a major source of revenue for cities. It always amused me that Indian cities have never cottoned on to this large chunk of cash

The problem is Indian policing system is totally different from what they have in US. From what I could make out any city/town ship etc. can launch its own police force. They can recruit people, buy vehicles and equipments etc. Only thing is that the city/town ship needs to find the funds for managing its force. One would be through levying taxes etc. Where as in India, we only have a "state police". The police men are recruited, given a centralised training and then alloted to cities and districts. The purchases of equipments and vehicles are also at the state level. Again, judiciary is also centralised and towns and cities cannot "hire" judges to run traffic courts

.

So for a small township/city in US one major source of revenue is the traffic fine business. Where as in India, this may not be very profitable because the township/city cannot claim any stake on the revenue collected as traffic fines. They all get back to the state government.

The only state where I see the entire police out there on the streets with special focus on Traffic law enforcement is Socialist Republic of Kerala

. The state seems to have recognised the immense revenue potential in this type of law enforcement. In Karnataka, I have rarely seen any active traffic law enforcement, outside the cities. Highway Patrols are a rare sight. I dont know even if they have one. In Tamil Nadu, I have seen Highway Patrols stationed every where. But again very rarely I have seen them actually pulling up violators. I have seen them pulling over trucks occassionally.

Step into Kerala, you have to watch out for police vehicles pretty much behind every bush. Local Police "mobiles", Highway Police vehicles, the Motor Transport Authority special squads are all out there. No special courtesy shown to any one. Two wheelers upto trucks are game. I have seen that in very many cases the fine is officially recorded and a receipt (TR-5) issued. Special focus on "drunken driving" cases. Fines are really heavy there. What my friends in the dept. tell me is that traffic law enforcement is monitored every day. Cases detected and amount collected as fines are all analysed. SIs going slow on this gets yelled at (right on the wireless channel if reqd). So looks like Kerala (as a state) is following the cities of the US.

Singha wrote:its possible to pay traffic fines online using bangaloreone site and I have done so.
some cops nowadays dont use notebooks to write registration numbers of jumping vehicles, they use a digital camera for convenience.

I came to know if it quite recently. Checked up the City Traffic police web site to see if any fine is pending. Nothing. Perhaps I should check it up more often. Yes, even I saw traffic policemen with digital cameras in a few junctions. What I could understand in very many junctions the cameras are already placed on masts. A chap sitting in a control room focuses on the culprit and takes a snap (with the reg number clearly visible). I feel this is a much better arrangement than writing down in a note book, or the police man yelling at the driver who does not bother to stop.

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 20 Jun 2012 19:57

that is fantastic to hear about blur pandus going full on tech. good good good..

yes, that must be implemented all over.

in maasa, the federated database is in Washington DC.. each cop car is integrated to it, on a few push buttons. similar or better system must be implemented.

blackberry sounds crazy though.. but dang! who cares.

--

btw, for desh, how are they going to tackle the bribes under the gun? that will never get recorded.

every tech catch must be federated, and bribery can be prevented if they use the tech the way it should be used. calculation of fines must be federated as well.

pandus just issues out tickets.

saip · Post by **saip** » 20 Jun 2012 20:20

Theo: You got off easy. IN CA, many cities have Red light cameras and the fine for jumping red light is over $400! There are no points though but that does not mean the Insurance companies wont jack up the insurance come renewal time. Another thing i heard is that the cities get only a little part of the fine and most of it goes to the Company (in Az?) that put up these cameras.

And I just read that LA PD wont enforce these tickets anymore. Hope my town does that too!

Theo_Fidel · Post by **Theo_Fidel** » 20 Jun 2012 21:02

Sachin,

You are right. That is a good point, shows a need for more devolution of power.
------------------

Yes! He thought I was going at 73 in his haste. Fine for going at 73 in 60 zone was $268 IIRC. We joked about it though he still gave me a ticket.

The most outrageous one I got was a $370 ticket for tinting my rear windows.
I fought that one with my patented technique of delay delay delay till finally the cops gave up. Another one my wife got was $180 ticket in a no account Colorado shack town for having a brake light out. The Midwest does not have the tax base that California has and must prey on the passing road cattle like vultures.

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 20 Jun 2012 21:37

some states like wisconsin, you can pay it off as spot fine. i once got into speed trap on the way to mckinac island, mi... pandu catches me doing near 70 for 55mph, on a general 55mph route... so, how do you like to pay this: master/visa/express?

nachiket · Post by **nachiket** » 21 Jun 2012 00:14

Theo_Fidel wrote:The Midwest does not have the tax base that California has and must prey on the passing road cattle like vultures.

Well apparently Nevada and Utah cops don't seem to care about traffic violations at all. They could have a field day on the I-15. The speed limit is 80mph in some parts (highest I have seen in massaland so far) and I saw multiple cars cruising at close to a 100. And it's only a four lane highway. I-5 in california is about the same.

In India we were halted by the Mumbai police for over-speeding once. My father was driving and for some reason the havaldar felt compelled to carry his radar gun to the driver's window and show the speed reading on it to my father as proof. Don't know if it is the norm everywhere or if the havaldar just wanted to show off his new radar gun.

They were a novelty in India at the time.

Sachin · Post by **Sachin** » 21 Jun 2012 11:27

SaiK wrote:pandus just issues out tickets.

I agree with you here. Infact I like the way the citations work in US. The policeman just gathers the evidence and issues a citation with a date to appear in court. And off course there is a provision to skip appearance in court and pay the fine by a cheque send by post. I understand that many out of the state cars would pay up instead of having to drive down again to challenge the citation in the local court. Such a facility actually exists in India as well. A "Vehicle check report" and a "charge sheet" is given with a court date also mentioned. The accused can show up at the court and contest the case*. Or else he can use a simple Money Order form to plead guilty and pay the fine.

The procedure to "compound" the offence (i.e charging spot fines) I guess was introduced because it was easier in India to dodge paying the fines. It was very difficult to track and trace the vehicle and drivers. So better make them pay the fine upfront. Now with computerisation and network connectivity improving by leaps and bounds it would not be too much of a problem to start tracking offences by tagging them to the vehicle registration number or the driving license number.

For quite some time the rule in Kerala was that Inspectors or Traffic Sub-Inspectors were authorised to levy spot fines. All other folks had to issue a charge sheet and a notice to appear in the magistrate court. But I guess this is also changed now. Every one goes for the "spot fine" option.

* From what I heard, in many places it is of no use to contest an MV Petty case. The magistrate generally would give more weightage to the police officers, unless there is some error which is too glaring.

nachiket wrote:In India we were halted by the Mumbai police for over-speeding once. My father was driving and for some reason the havaldar felt compelled to carry his radar gun to the driver's window and show the speed reading on it to my father as proof. Don't know if it is the norm everywhere or if the havaldar just wanted to show off his new radar gun.

I got caught for overspeeding (83 on a 60kmph limit) in Kerala. Again the local police had parked the jeep in the middle of a long stretch. The jeep was hidden and the radar equipment was placed on a tripod. Got pulled over and I moved towards the jeep to pay the fine. On the front seat next to the ASI was a laptop with a snap shot of my car with the registration number all clear. The speed at which I was going, and the speed limit was also there on the image. I asked the ASI if he could give me a print out of the same. He said if that is required, I would have to contest the case and I can see it as the evidence being produced in the court

. So I dropped the idea.

The software also has a buffering mechanism. That is snaps shots can be taken of multiple vehicles and they all gets queued up. When I was paying up the fine, I could see further images getting queued up with other vehicles. The drivers also were soon queueing upto pay the fine as well.

Sachin · Post by **Sachin** » 21 Jun 2012 11:29

Electronic toll collection to save Rs10 billion annually
Have seen such a scheme operational in Massa way back in 2001. This would certainly help Indian drivers as well. Generally there is always a bottle neck at the toll booths.