10-fold increase in traffic challans in Gurgaon this year

THIS YEAR FEWER PEOPLE WERE FINED FOR DRIVING WHILE USING A CELLPHONE. TILL APRIL, 258 FINES WERE ISSUED, AGAINST THE 381 FINED LAST YEAR TILL APRIL

GURUGRAM: Traffic violators in Gurugram have had it tough since the beginning of this year as the traffic police issued over 3 lakh fines in the first four months. This is almost 10 times the number of fines (31,000) issued in the first four months of 2017, shows traffic police data.

Traffic police officers said that the steep rise in number of fines issued is because of the increased focus on penalising violators. The monthly ‘No Tolerance Day’ drives have also helped check traffic violations.

“Managing traffic is one of our key challenges and this was the reason we increased focus on enforcement. The strength of traffic police is going to increase soon and this will further help in imposing traffic rules,” said Gurugram commissioner of police Sandeep Khirwar.

The focus on enforcement has also helped fill the coffers of the traffic police, which collected ₹5.5 crore in penalty this year. This amount stood at just ₹62 lakh in the corresponding period in 2017.

The traffic police attributed the rise in penalty amount collected to the revision in fines imposed for violations after the first quarter in 2017. They added that the distribution of handheld machines has also ensured that the penalty amount is deposited on the spot.

According to the data collected by the Gurugram traffic police, maximum number of fines were issued for parking on the wrong side of the road, wrong-side driving, driving without strapping the seat belt, riding two-wheelers without helmets, pillion riders caught without helmets and driving without a licence.

Senior police officials said that their objective behind increased enforcement was to reduce the number of accidents.