It is strange that despite the Traffic Police taking a number of initiatives to regulate the vehicular movement in Jammu and Kashmir by enforcing different laws and rules in letter and spirit and penalizing the violators, very little has been accomplished to ensure that motor vehicles follow the speed limits. It is rarely observed that law enforcement officers use speed guns to curb speeding, which unfortunately is one of the primary reasons behind the high number of accidents occurring in the Union Territory.
It is unbelievable that this aspect is out of sight of the traffic police department but those using roads edifice in the Union Territory would fairly agree that more has to be done in this direction to make the roads safer and prevent fatal mishaps. As far as cities and towns are concerned the commuters seldom find signboards regarding the speed limit and hardly there is a motorist in the Union Territory, who has been fined for driving his or her vehicle with a speed more than allowed.
This fact should not be misunderstood by thinking that all vehicles in J&K move within the stipulated speed limits but the matter of fact is that there is an acute shortage of gadgets meant for checking the speed limit of the vehicles and whatever is lying with the cops to check vehicle speed seems to be underused or not used at all as driving with dangerous speed in J&K is a common scenario and many a times accidents do occur because of this lacunae shown by the traffic police department. The signboards guiding the commuters about maximum speed allowed are so low that even commuters can count them on their fingers without any difficulty.
Considering that Jammu and Kashmir has become the accident capital of the country, with its highways claiming lives almost daily, it has become imperative to equip traffic cops with an ample number of speed guns to combat the menace of over-speeding vehicles. Deterrence through heavy penalties is essential, echoing the poignant slogan used by law enforcement officers: “Speed thrills but kills.” It is imperative for authorities to intervene and halt this menace to break the vicious cycle of deaths and injuries on the roads of the Jammu and Kashmir Union Territory.
