To leash fast cars, traffic police seek speed guns

Ludhiana: Faced with rising deaths in road accidents involving speeding vehicles, traffic police here have written to state officials for more speed guns. For now, the force only has one such device for checking 15 lakh vehicles in the city.
Acknowledging that speeding is a problem and traffic police require more speed guns, assistant commissioner of police (traffic) Richa Agnihotri said they had written to "higher-ups" for more speed radars."We need at least five such radars, that too with night vision, to check speeding," she said.
The move has come close on the heels of two men being killed by a speeding luxury car. Otherwise also, road accident deaths due to speeding are routine in Ludhiana. On Sunday morning, a speeding Audi had hit a two wheeler, killing the two men on the spot. The deceased were disc jockeys (DJs).
A day later, a speeding truck mowed down a scooter, killing an MA student of a city college on the spot. The accident took place on Sherpur Chowk.
According to road-safety experts, speeding is the reason behind 60% road accidents in the city. As per NCRB data, there were 318 deaths in 475 accidents last year. More than half of these accidents were a result of speeding and drunken driving. "If we have to check speeding effectively, we need at least 15 to 20 speed guns. Even Chandigarh, which has roughly around 4 lakh vehicles, has 12 speed guns," Kamaljit Soi, a city-based road-safety expert, said.
The move, meanwhile, has been welcomed by city residents. "More accidents due to speeding occur in the city during night hours, so traffic officials should deploy cops and speed guns during night hours so that there is fear among violators. If this is not done, we can soon have 500 persons dying in road accidents in a year," said Dinesh Anand, a businessman from Basant Avenue.