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Have you ever been stopped for not following traffic rules? Have you ever been part of a random check by Traffic police? Do you even notice them on the roads when you drive around where you live? Who are they and what do they do? Our reporter, Tenzin Rabgye, spent a time to find out what it means to be a traffic police and the traffic condition in Thimphu.
“Its 6.30 am, streets virtually empty, and very chilly. A traffic police personnel is seen crossing the Lungtenzampa bridge towards the Traffic Police Division. She gets to work as soon as she arrives. There is a slight traffic situation at the bus stand,” our reporter narrates.
“In a matter of minutes, others flock in. They had come for their daily briefing. These police men are given instructions by their superiors.
This process is being repeated three more times. When police personnel come for their shift, it is almost time for the morning rush hour in Thimphu. And the traffic police head out towards their respective beats. Some on foot and others on bike and motorcycles.
Traffic looked normal for some time, but in few minutes it turned to total mayhem.
Most of the vehicles have come to drop their children to school. Hundreds of cars coming to one destination at the same time. According to traffic personnel this happens almost all over Thimphu city every day. A shame that drivers in the city don’t have a culture of pooling vehicles.
Two traffic police stay at one point. There are others all over the city. One regulates the flow of traffic and the other sees that students are given the chance to cross the road a certain intervals.
The traffic police said that this problem could be minimised if children were dropped to school a little earlier or in shifts according to their classes.
While this is going on, other traffic police personnel are getting ready for a highway checking. The police officials are going to be heading towards the highway to conduct routine checks on traffic.
Lieutenant Kencho Tshering is one of two officers at the Division. He is taking a group of police on a highway checking. They normally conduct checking’s on a daily basis. “We conduct this highway checking frequently. Despite numerous interventions by regulatory agencies like the RSTA and us, the Traffic Police, there has been a significant increase in the number of traffic accidents. I don’t know whether the drivers forget or they don’t know the traffic rules,” he said.
Namseling is the spot. The officers stop and check cars mostly trucks, taxis and public carriers. They fine and seize a few documents from people for violating traffic rules.
“Henceforth defaulters shall be dealt with seriously without any warning or excuse. Repeated offender’s licenses’ shall be sent for punching or cancellation,” said Lieutenant Kencho Tshering.
The traffic police can also monitor the speed of vehicles using their Speed gun, a device which makes many motorists slow down just at a glance of the device. It is state of the art. “The most common cause of accidents on the Thimphu-Babesa expressway is speeding. We monitor the speed of vehicles with our speed gun. It shows the exact speed of a car. Whatever is displayed on the vehicles speedometer is displayed on our speed gun,” he added.
The group of officers at Namseling continues until late afternoon.
On our way back from the checking we spotted a minor accident on the expressway. Traffic police are already on the scene. No one was injured. The driver who is at fault is levied a fine.
In the afternoon and the same process begins once again. The officers has just finished receiving their briefings and are in the field.
They work based on a shift system. Each police personnel have to work for six and a half hours at a stretch. They work about 13 hours on a daily basis. Each person works two shifts daily. There are nine beats all over the city. Some are monitored by police on bikes and others are monitored on foot.
The police at the main traffic paired so that they can take turns directing traffic. Six and a half hours of doing this alone would be very difficult.
While this is going on, police on bikes are going all over the city on patrol. They ride around checking on the police who are at their posts as well as monitoring traffic in other areas of the city.
The Officer in Command, Lieutenant Namgay Wangchuk, of the Division says that they always brief their staff to be courteous to the public.
Tashi Tshering is an overall duty commander at the division. He briefs his superiors on what they are supposed to be doing today. It was Wednesday “Party Night” and there will be drivers who are under the influence of alcohol. Not that drivers don’t drink on other days but on days there are parties it’s relatively more.
Tashi Tshering gives his superiors instructions. The reason they conduct this checking is for the safety of all motorists.“Most of the time we come across drivers without driving licenses, speeding along the expressway. And especially on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays we come across drunk drivers since its party night,” he said.
On some occasions they receive a few harsh words and treatment from a few motorists, but it’s all part of the job. In a span of three hours the traffic police catch 15 defaulters. Five for driving under the influence of alcohol, two for speeding and nine unlicensed drivers. The entire day, 79 defaulters are caught. The Traffic Division in Thimphu has 60 staff for over 30,000 cars in the capital. It is growing by the day. There are about 5 new cars coming into the capital every day. Not helping the congestion.
Last year in Thimphu alone there were over 300 accidents, 12 people lost their lives. For the Traffic Division of the Royal Bhutan Police every day is a new one.For them to serve and protect all motorists.”
