Cops to work with all prvt Ggm hospitals to fine vehicles for delaying ambulances

The officers will sit beside the driver, record movement of offending vehicles on their phones, and feed the cars’ registration number on their challan device to impose a fine

The Gurugram traffic police have decided to expand to all private hospitals in the city their enforcement of Section 194E of The Motor Vehicles Act under which vehicles that slow down or block the movement of ambulances on the road are penalised.

An ambulance in Gurugram’s Sector 38 near Tau Devi Lal Stadium on Thursday. (Parveen Kumar/HT Photo)

The police are enforcing this provision of the Act by riding as passengers in ambulances to identify and fine vehicles that slow down or block ambulances. Since February 15, traffic police officers, according to their available manpower, have been riding as passengers in government ambulances of the Gurugram Civil Hospital in Sector 10. They sit beside the driver, record the movement of offending vehicles on their mobile phones, and feed the offenders’ registration number on their hand-held challan device to impose an online fine of ₹10,000.

Section 194E says that failure to allow free passage to emergency vehicles such as fire engines or ambulances shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term up to six months or with a fine of ₹10,000 or both. Since February 15, traffic officers have ridden in the hospital’s government ambulances, and identified and fined 52 vehicle drivers, mostly of four-wheelers, for slowing down or blocking ambulances on the road.

“From February 15 till March 19, we have fined 52 private and commercial vehicle drivers ₹10,000 each amounting to ₹5.2 lakh. Now, directions have been issued to all the 121 traffic zonal officers to coordinate with every private hospital in their jurisdiction to expand the drive for a large-scale impact so that drivers learn to give way to an ambulance immediately after sensing its presence,” said Virender Vij, deputy commissioner of police (traffic).

“The zonal officers will stay in touch with the nodal authority of these private hospitals so that traffic police personnel may accompany an ambulance driver whenever the vehicle is transporting patients and issue online challans to violators accordingly on the move,” he added.

Sukhbir Singh, assistant commissioner of police (traffic headquarters), said they are using the violation on camera (VOCr) method for issuing the challans where video clips of the violation serve as evidence. “Mostly private four-wheeler drivers were observed as violators till now, who even after hearing an ambulance siren don’t give it instant passage,” said Singh, who is monitoring the drive.

“Either the violator pays the challan online or contests it in the court where we will submit the video clip as evidence. We expect a change in the ground situation in the next few months when violators will be fined continuously on a large scale,” he added.

Prince Kumar, a city-based ambulance driver, said that most of the time he transported a patient during an emergency, he could not get a clear way. “SUVs, high-end vehicles, two-wheelers, and auto rickshaws cause most of the trouble. Their drivers don’t realise that a patient’s life is at stake and every minute counts,” he said. He added that a continuous and rigorous challan drive with awareness may bring a behavioural change.

Dr Sushila Kataria, senior director (medicine), of Medanta Hospital, called the drive a good initiative by the Gurugram traffic police. “In other countries, we see all road traffic coming to a halt to give passage to an ambulance. But here, the moment car drivers see an ambulance, they accelerate to move ahead quickly instead of giving it way,” she said.