Occupation: Traffic Policeman
“Senior Civil Police Officer — that is my designation now. But it effectively means a head constable. I joined the Police 22 years ago as a constable. Since then, I have worked at different stations and even at the control room before becoming part of Traffic a little less than two years ago. We all get training in traffic too when we start out. Yet, being a traffic policeman is different from other postings. It takes one a while to get a hang of things. Slowly, you get into the groove.
In the city there are only couple of places where traffic islands and hand signals are still in practise. The rest have been replaced by traffic signals. But whenever the signals stop working or we switch them off, we have to be in the centre of action again. Most signals run on solar energy and they cease to work in the rains.
Among the busiest intersections in the city is the Thondayad junction. It is one of the most accident prone too since it is the highway. Palayam too is a difficult point to handle, primarily because of congestion; since there is no island, one has to stand in the middle of traffic and regulate vehicles coming from all around.
We enter duty at 8 a.m. and then do two shifts of three hours each till 8 p.m. At a few points duty goes on till 9 p.m., and the person on duty there works for six-and-a-half hours a day; while for the rest of us have six-hour duty. At certain busy points, there will also be a home guard to assist the traffic police. In the city, the traffic police is divided into north and south sectors and we are rotated at different points in each sector.
The job requires us to endure blazing run and torrential rain. Of course, we have our rain coats, but one still ends up getting wet. We have to be alert always and know when a huge block is likely to happen. In case of a traffic block, the first priority is to find points of chaos and mitigate them. Information is exchanged through the wireless and if there is a need for more personnel at one blocked point, they are despatched. Further, there will also be senior officers in each sector who tour either on a motorbike or jeep and they will also be part of action in case of a huge jam. In case of a jam, one diverts vehicles from nearby points too to ease pressure on the blocked centre.
Festivals and protests are tough on us. Vehicular traffic would be particularly high during festivals. And if an anti-police protest march is on, it is better to be on guard. Diversions too have to be handled during protests.
Most jams, especially on narrow roads, are caused when people jump the jammed lane thereby blocking traffic in the adjoining lane too. Also, at certain intersections, the roads joining it will be of different width. For instance, if one veers from a highway, which allows the mobility of more vehicles, into a narrow road, it leads to commotion.
Jumping the signal is a major violation the traffic police have to deal with, so too not wearing seat belts and helmets.
The rest, like speeding, is taken care of by interceptors. However, signal violations are considerably less now. But people mostly end up blocking the free left. Truck drivers who drive in from other States are the major culprits.
As a traffic policeman, one gets to interact a lot more with people. People always come to you for directions. There would be senior citizens or children who need your help to cross the road. In case of accidents near one’s point we have to find out if our vehicle is nearby and if not make arrangements for the victim to be taken to the nearby hospital.”
As told to P. ANIMA
A column on the men and women who make Kozhikode what it is.
