2,176 people prosecuted for traffic-related offences on Holi

The city witnessed three deaths in road accidents on Tuesday, when a large number of traffic police personnel were deployed across the city to prevent drunk or rash driving, on the occasion of Holi. Last year, the police had managed to keep the death count to zero.

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Senior Delhi Police officers said that one accident took place in the early hours of Tuesday in northwest Delhi’s Kanjhawala, while the other two took place during the day in Civil Lines and Bijwasan.

The deaths took place even as the traffic police prosecuted 2,176 people for traffic-related offences in the national capital this Holi. The Delhi traffic police on Wednesday issued 647 traffic fines for drink driving, 181 for triple riding, caught 1,192 people for riding their two-wheelers without helmets and prosecuted 156 people for driving dangerously.

In 2019, around 13,219 fines, including 431 for interception and 1,591 for drink driving, were issued for violating traffic rules. There was, however, no cases of death reported. In 2018, five persons had lost their lives in road accidents. Of these, two were pedestrians who died after cars rammed into them.

Delhi Police data shows that on an average, four persons were killed in road accidents everyday in Delhi last year. But Holi usually sees only a fraction of motorists take to the roads. However, cases of inebriated drivers flouting traffic norms increases.

In a statement issued by the traffic police, the department said that they had deployed around 1,600 traffic personnel to man the roads on Holi to avoid violations.

“There were more than 170 traffic pickets, including 131 integrated checking pickets that involved traffic and local police officials. This was done to ensure peaceful and safe Holi celebrations. The traffic police also conducted special drives to control unruly and dangerous driving,” a traffic police statement read.