Spot Fine Counter
A police officer collects fine for traffic rule violation near Gandhipuram signal in the city with the board on the motorcycle indicating "Spot Fine Counter".To ensure transparency and remove wrong impression among public, the Coimbatore City Police has asked all the traffic inspectors and 15 traffic sub-inspectors to display “Spot Fine Counter” boards while imposing spot fine penalty on violators of road rules.The City Police Commissioner, C.K. Gandhirajan, has issued instructions to the traffic police to ensure strict compliance to the instructions.
At present traffic police officers intercept violators of rules at road junctions and impose spot fine on them. This had resulted in room for complaints and even wrong impression that policemen were taking money from violators for letting them go without facing the law, pointed out S. Manoharan, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic).To eliminate this impression and to bring in transparency, henceforth traffic police officers would have to display a board “Spot Fine Counter”. Police officers on jeep would have to mount this board prominently on the jeep bonnet i.e., in front of the wind shield.On motorcycles, the boards have been fixed to the rear bumper in a make-shift arrangement. The boards could be brought up and unfolded while booking offenders.
Similarly, to make the presence of police felt and deter people from indulging in violations, the police officers have been asked to move around with siren and revolving beacon lights on. The lights are now fitted to the front mud guard of the motorcycle. These measures are expected to go a long way in changing the image of the force in the eyes of the public as well as in reducing and preventing accidents on city roads by making the presence of the law enforcing agency felt, Mr. Gandhirajan pointed out.As part of the effort to ensure transparency, every sergeant has been provided with a laminated sheet containing the nature of the offence, the relevant motor vehicle rule and the fine amount prescribed. This had to be shown to the violator before collecting the fine so that complaints of issuing receipts for lesser amount and taking extra money are prevented.