Pedestrians share the road with cars in downtown Yangon.

THE Yangon Traffic Police Force has increased enforcement of laws against using car horns in restricted areas, Police Lieutenant Colonel Aung Naing said earlier this month.

“We have found that some drivers still use their horns in restricted areas even though they are not allowed to use them for any reason,” he said.

The ban on horns was instituted by police on May 1, 2003, in six townships in downtown Yangon, with the fine for breaking the law fixed at K5700. Later that year it was increased to its current level of K11,500.

In April 2004 the ban was extended to the entire Yangon municipal area. In 2005 the penalty was increased to include a one-month driver’s licence suspension for the first two infractions and a one-year ban for the third violation.

“We now have 45 inspection teams in the city to look for infractions and the policemen assigned at each traffic light will also record lawbreakers,” said Pol Lt Col Aung Naing.

Meanwhile, the police force also plans to resume handing out fines to pedestrians who do not use zebra crossings when walking across the street, he said.

“We stopped fining pedestrians for about a year but we plan to start again in the near future,” he said. “We will announce the exact date of the resumption of penalties when we decide.”

He said the fine would be K2200, the same as before.

“We will fine people who do not use pedestrian crossings or flyovers and those who do not follow the signs at traffic lights that tell them when to cross,” Pol Lt Col Aung Naing said.

He said there has been a noticeable increase in traffic violations and accidents involving pedestrians since police stopped enforcing the zebra crossing rules last year.

According to police statistics, more than 850 traffic accidents have occurred in Yangon this year through the end of November. Of these, more than 500 were considered to have been caused by careless drivers and more than 200 by pedestrians.