Maharashtra Highway Police send 3.1K licences of Mumbai motorists for suspension

A police officer said around 1.47 million traffic offences have been registered this year in the state

The Maharashtra Highway Police has sent a proposal to the road transport department to suspend around 40,305 driving licences of motorists for three to six months. These include 3,149 driving licences from Mumbai, where 265,000 traffic offences have been registered.

These cops have sent 3,149 driving licences for suspension from Mumbai, where 265,000 traffic offences have been registered. (HT File)

“The motorists in these cases face licence suspension for at least three months,” said a police officer.

After the suspension orders are issued, the licence concerned will be seized by the police and released only after the suspension period is over.

“We have sent a proposal to suspend driving licences of motorists who are found repeating traffic offences. Most of the offences are speaking on phone while driving, signal jumping, drunk driving and driving on the wrong side,” said Bhushan Kumar Upadhyay, additional director general of police, traffic.

Upadhyay said the stern action of suspending driving licences is being taken as per suggestions by the Apex court’s road safety committee headed by justice KS Radhakrishnan.

The police officer said around 1.47 million traffic offences have been registered this year in the state. On analysing the information, the traffic police department found that the accused included 40,305 repeat offenders, after which a decision was taken to send their licences for suspension.

Of the 40,305 repeat offenders, 23,144 motorists have been repeatedly found speaking on phone while driving. Last year, 9,465 offenders were found speaking on phone while driving.

There are 13,550 motorists whose licences have been sent for suspension for jumping signals. Last year, officials had sent around 4,888 driving licences for suspension, said an official.

Around 1,887 drivers’ licences will be suspended this year for carrying passengers in goods vehicles.

Officials said they have sent 1,776 licences for suspension for over speeding – 1,450 more than the number of licences referred for suspension last year.

The officers said this year, drunk driving is the only category that saw a decrease in cases as only 448 licences have been sent for suspension. Last year the police had sent 1,995 driving licences for suspension for drunk driving.

Mumbai traffic police have not send any licence for suspension for drunk driving this year as the campaign for drunk driving has been stopped owing to Covid-19 guidelines

If the police suspect that a person is driving under the influence of alcohol, they take the driver for a medical test.

“We have sent 2,167 and 982 licences for cancellation for jumping signals and talking on phone while driving, respectively,” said a Mumbai Police officer.