City cops say hola to traffic woes

03 October,2009 07:04 AM IST |   |  Somita Pal

Team of 10 cops, who recently underwent traffic-control training in Spain, says it will change the pace of Mumbai traffic


Team of 10 cops, who recently underwent traffic-control training in Spain, says it will change the pace of Mumbai traffic

Mumbai cops may not talk or walk Spanish, but their hands will soon direct traffic the Spanish way.

Ten cops, who recently underwent a three-week traffic-control training in Spain, will soon operate the Mumbai traffic control room (see box) in Worli and train 10 other cops for the job.
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All traffic signals will be connected to the control room and sensors installed at signals will help control the traffic movement, based on vehicle density.
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No more: The new traffic control will be put in place after the Assembly elections.

The number of traffic cops in the city are 2,400 out of which, 800 are on VIP duty.

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"We have been trained to man the flow of traffic during rush hours," said a constable, who was part of the training in Spain.

According to an official from the Mumbai Traffic Police, the system will play an important role in easing the traffic during early hours when the traffic to south Mumbai is more, and in the evenings when the situation reverses.

"The training will help ease traffic at one-way congestion situations."

After elections

The system, which was supposed to come into place on October 1, was postponed due to election code of conduct which came into force on August 31.
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"The team says it will change the pace of Mumbai traffic," a police official said. The 10 cops were selected based on their computers skills. Traffic Joint CP Sanjay Barve was unavailable for comment.

Control Room

450 city signals will be connected to the control room. Currently, only 100 traffic junctions are monitored through CCTVs.u00a0

The new control room has only six computers for Area Traffic Control (ATC) and a projector with 22 screens.
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traffic-control Mumbai traffic Spain Assembly elections