Delhi: 1 lakh errant drivers lose licences in four months

The traffic cops conducted a special drive on the orders of the Supreme Court to crackdown on errant drivers. They claimed that the exercise has made city roads safer as traffic rule violations have come down by 30% in the past two months.

The traffic police have seized licences of over 1 lakh careless drivers for violating road rules in the past four months between December 15 and March 1.

A total of 42,854 licences were seized for jumping the traffic signal. (Sakib Ali/HT Photo)

The traffic cops conducted a special drive on the orders of the Supreme Court to crackdown on errant drivers. They claimed that the exercise has made city roads safer as traffic rule violations have come down by 30% in the past two months. The drive is still on.

Besides imposing fines mandated under the Motor Vehicle Act (1988), licences of careless drivers were suspended for at least three months.

Maximum licenses, 42,854, were seized for jumping the traffic signal. Over 32,000 drivers were caught for speeding and 25,998 drivers lost their licences for driving drunk.

“We implemented the court’s orders strictly. For all major offences, which could result in fatal consequences, the drivers were not only fined but their licences were also seized. The errant drivers can get their licence back only after three months. They will have to approach the court to claim their licence,” said Muktesh Chander, special commissioner of police (traffic).

Data provided by the traffic police shows that the crackdown has made driving on city roads safer. In November 2015, the average number of challans issued per day were 8,000 to 9,000. In February, the average prosecution figure was 6,000.

Chander said over 40% of the drivers whose licences were seized are registered in neighbouring states such as Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, and Bihar.

“We have given the details of the offenders to the transport departments of these states. We have also asked them to revoke their licences for three months. A large part of the city’s traffic comes from the neighbouring states and unless we coordinate with traffic police of these states, we will not succeed in checking violation of traffic rules,” the special commissioner said.