The Bombay Bar Association and advocate Armin Wandrewala have filed a PIL (public interest litigation) in the Bombay High Court pointing out the pitiable state of traffic congestion in the metropolis, seeking strict implementation of the rules and punishment for violators, reported Daily News and Analysis (DNA) on August 6, 2010. Wandrewala argued in the court that the traffic lights system is imperfect, creating confusion and leading to accidents; there are no proper zebra crossings; traffic policemen do not prevent pedestrians from breaking rules. Even the paint on zebra crossings does not last for more than four to five months, she said. (In September 2009 she had been "brutally assaulted” by a motorcyclist at a pedestrian crossing near Regal cinema when she accused him of blocking her passage by stopping on the zebra lines.)
Statistics show that since 2008 about 17 lakh vehicles have been registered in the city. With the total road length being 2,000 km, vehicle density works out to 725 per km, more than double the international average of 300. "This is the problem we have to face,” government pleader Dhairyasheel Nalavade told the High Court on August 5, while replying to the PIL. He quoted the figures from an affidavit filed by assistant commissioner of police (administration). The affidavit also mentions that the state has placed CCTV cameras at 253 junctions and that there are about 3,000 policepersons of which 2,600 are on traffic duty at a time, DNA reports.
The High Court division bench of Justices Mohit Shah and S. C. Dharmadhikari, which is hearing the PIL, directed the state to increase the number of traffic constables. It asked for minutes of the meetings held by the traffic advisory committee since January 1, 2010 and directed the Bombay Municipal Corporation to complete painting of zebra crossings in the city. The Court also expressed concern over the problem of jaywalkers and suggested that school and college students be deployed to man the traffic, but Wandrewala felt the task should be entrusted to adults.