The primary objective of Highway Traffic Police is to improve the flow of traffic while ensuring the safety of citizens and providing emergency help to those in need, while on drive.

The State Traffic Branch (S.T.B), formed in 1948, was empowered to carry out cases under the Motor Vehicle Act (M.V.A.) and Bombay Police Act (B.P.A.). Due to various complains it was then disbanded in March 1989. In 1992, the Highway Safety Patrol Scheme was re-initiated due to an increase in dacoities and robberies on the Highways. Thereafter, the staff earlier under the Superintendent of Police of the District, were then reallocated under the control of Deputy Inspector General of Police (Highway State Police) and the Inspector General of Police, Traffic was declared as the “Head of Department”.

As of today, there are a total of 63 Traffic Aid Posts (TAPs), divided into 5 regions, namely – Thane, Pune, Nagpur, Raigad and Aurangabad which regulate, monitor and control traffic on the Highways. The head of each region is the “Superintendent of Police” and each TAP comprises of 3 Sub Inspectors, 6 Head Constables, 24 Police Constables and 3 Drivers.

• Deputy Inspector General of Police (Traffic) was assigned responsibilities of monitoring the activities of the State Traffic Branch, established on 14^th April 1948, with the duties of Traffic safety and regulation.
• The post of Deputy Inspector General (Traffic) was then upgraded to Special Inspector General of Police (Traffic), vide a Govt. Order, in December 1993.
• Subsequently in 2007, vide another Government Order, the Post of Special IG Traffic was upgraded to Additional Director General of Police (Traffic).