[sdp1975]

Wrong parking fines increased in the city.

The revised rates for wrong parking, which comes into effect from Friday, is now Rs. 1000 from Rs. 500. It includes towing charges for four wheelers and wrong parking penalty.

The amount collected from the towing charges would be shared between the State government and towing vehicle owners on 50:50 basis, Additional Commissioner of Police (traffic) R. Hitendra said.

The towing charges for two wheelers has also been revised from Rs. 200 to Rs. 650. For heavy vehicle, the towing charges is Rs. 2,000.

Source

[sachinpk]

Did the EC to ITPL circuit (by Varthur Rd.) in 1 hour 10 mins. Off late this journey was taking 1 hour 30 mins. I feel the vehicles on the road are less today. And off course the main differentiator seems to be the trucks being absent.

[Samurai]

I spend half my time in Bangalore and rest in Manipal, where my office is located. Today I had to visit Udupi in the morning for an eye checkup. Wanted to post how a typical morning (9AM) traffic looks in Udupi. The clock on the video is 30 minutes behind since I can't pick IST (+5.5) on it. This is a major district HQ in Karnataka.

https://youtu.be/kQlk4Q6iKiE

[binand]

Originally Posted by sdp1975

Wrong parking fines increased in the city.

Strictly speaking, what has been increased are the towing charges. The fines remain the same.

- To increase the fine legislation is required, not just administrative action.
- There is talk that this move is to appease the tow vehicle operators.

BM got it right:

http://www.bangaloremirror.com/articleshow/54453507.cms

[sachinpk]

Originally Posted by binand

- To increase the fine legislation is required, not just administrative action.

True. And it is not a very easy task. Because fines are all defined in the Motor Vehicle Act, which is a Central Act. So if the fines have to be jacked up, this central act needs to be amended. Which means it has to be passed by both houses in Parliament, President approving etc. In the last budget session one such huge amendment has been passed. With this fines/imprisonment for many motor vehicle related offences have been steeply increased. But I don't think this amendment has been signed off by the president, but he may any time do it.

Some other countries (I feel) have a simpler system for this fine business. Their acts have a schedule which categorises the offences and states the punishment (eg: Driving without a license is an offence categorised as Schedule A offence). And in Schedule A, the punishment would be listed. The advantage is that the schedules can be amended/changed by states/municipal bodies etc through executive orders without any further approval . Or else it is actually pain to have an amendment made to change a Rs.100 fine to a Rs.500 fine.

[paragsachania]

Update: St. John's to Madiwala Police Station to be made 2 way on permanent basis?

Not sure if I have missed the updates on this thread over the past few days but did anyone notice that the road from St. John's Junction to Madiwala Police station is permanently going to become a 2 lane road again ?

The barricades were the makeshift medians all these days to allow 2 way traffic to facilitate concretization work on Madiwala Market road but since few days I am seeing concrete median built from Madiwala underpass till St. John's Junction.

This easily looks like a permanent affair as the medians are concrete and I see no reason why they would do that is the set-up is temporary.

It also means that those travelling towards EC continue to take the usual route via Madiwala underpass instead of passing the messy Madiwala Market road but what is again alarming is the fact that on return from EC towards the city, one will still have to pass the section where all the private buses stop and during festive season and long weekends, you know these create havoc.

If the authorities are any saner, I expect them to act strict on these buses which are parked so haphazardly here & also ensure that LCVs and HCVs still take the Market road to reach Madiwala Police station Junction, considering how narrow the road gets where the underpass ends till Total mall.

[speedmiester]

Originally Posted by binand

Strictly speaking, what has been increased are the towing charges. The fines remain the same.

- To increase the fine legislation is required, not just administrative action.
- There is talk that this move is to appease the tow vehicle operators.

BM got it right:

http://www.bangaloremirror.com/articleshow/54453507.cms

Add to this, most of the towing vehicles are owned by police personnel themselves, it's just a way to make in additional income for themselves.

[bharat4ever]

Originally Posted by speedmiester

Add to this, most of the towing vehicles are owned by police personnel themselves, it's just a way to make in additional income for themselves.

This is just hearsay isn't it? Is there actual proof?
In any case, the higher towing charges will hopefully be a deterrent for many who think "I'll just park here, and be back in 2 min".

[airbus]

Originally Posted by bharat4ever

This is just hearsay isn't it? Is there actual proof?
In any case, the higher towing charges will hopefully be a deterrent for many who think "I'll just park here, and be back in 2 min".

Irrespective of who makes the money, I would be more than happy if violators feel the pinch in their pocket, hopefully that will be a deterrent. Some of the violators behave as if they own the road

[haria]

Originally Posted by Samurai

Wanted to post how a typical morning (9AM) traffic looks in Udupi.

Sigh. Must be a pleasure to drive there. I can see a similar condition in Bangalore ONLY on some bandh days. Wondering how it will be IN udupi during bandh days!!.

I request you not to post these kind of videos and make me feel more jealous and depressed

On a side note, most of the shops still not opened at 9am at Udupi ? Could that be the reason for such sparse traffic ?

Originally Posted by binand

Strictly speaking, what has been increased are the towing charges. The fines remain the same.

- To increase the fine legislation is required, not just administrative action.
- There is talk that this move is to appease the tow vehicle operators.

I didn't know this. I thought parking fine was increased. Thanks for this detail. On a separate note, I don't see too many vehicles towing away cars in BLR. I mean, who wants to tow vehicles in bumper-to-bumper traffic which is usually the norm in most of the roads! Bad news for two wheeler owners, though. I see the police truck ferrying two wheelers frequently.

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by haria

Sigh. Must be a pleasure to drive there. I can see a similar condition in Bangalore ONLY on some bandh days. Wondering how it will be IN udupi during bandh days!!.

Bandh rarely affects the coast. For example, none of the Bundhs in the last one month affected Udupi.

Originally Posted by haria

I request you not to post these kind of videos and make me feel more jealous and depressed

Oh, I was about mention this is high traffic compared to my usual office commute in Manipal.

Originally Posted by haria

On a side note, most of the shops still not opened at 9am at Udupi ? Could that be the reason for such sparse traffic ?

No different than Bangalore, where most businesses open only after 9AM.

[audioholic]

Truck broken down slightly before Mahadevpura Police station due to a burst tyre while going towards Whitefield. Could lead to a bottleneck so stick to the right lane. If that was not enough, a JCB excavator has been parked after Gate 1 of PSN which will definitely cause a bottleneck if not removed. Left lane is blocked.

[hemanth.anand]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

Update: St. John's to Madiwala Police Station to be made 2 way on permanent basis?

Yes. It was updated by BTP on 17th September 2016 on their Facebook page.

[silversteed]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

Update: St. John's to Madiwala Police Station to be made 2 way on permanent basis?

The BTP had posted in social media that the concrete medians are set up to prevent smart alecs from making illegal U-turns and riding/driving against the traffic flow. I did not see any mention of this being permanent or on an experimental basis either.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by silversteed

The BTP had posted in social media that the concrete medians are set up to prevent smart alecs from making illegal U-turns and riding/driving against the traffic flow. I did not see any mention of this being permanent or on an experimental basis either.

Well the reason to ask whether this was for permanent basis or temporary was simple:

1. BTP made this road one way to decongest snarls below the Madiwala underpass when the road was 2 way.

2. They removed all the median here by breaking it to make it one wide road

3. Then the concretization of Madiwala Market Road started and since one lane there was closed, to facilitate that work, BTP again made the Road from St. John's to Police station a 2 way and to make this they placed barricades and plastic ribbons to create an "imaginary" median

4. Since this is my daily route, I noticed how each one treats this road as their playground and makes U and Right turns wherever they want while the poor cops in the morning are seen aligning these barricades in one straight line and tying those ribbons only to do that next day again

5. And now when I see concrete medians getting laid, it looks more or a permanent set up than temporary as barricades did that job earlier anyway even with morons taking U as they wish

Luckily, it was a fortnight since I drove to EC and had not witnessed this development and missed the update on FB and hence asked this.