Traffic police to crack the whip against errant school vehicles

The traffic police have decided to come down heavily on school cabs and buses violating safety norms. In a high-level meeting called by state transport minister Arvinder Singh, the traffic police on Wednesday decided to crack the whip against violators.

The traffic police have decided to come down heavily on school cabs and buses violating safety norms.

In a high-level meeting called by state transport minister Arvinder Singh, the traffic police on Wednesday decided to crack the whip against violators.

The police have issued instructions to be followed by transporters and drivers of school buses, failing which they would be prosecuted.

"If a private vehicle is found carrying school children on a commercial basis, the police will book the owner/driver for violation of registration, slap him with a fine of Rs 2000 and impound it. If a school van with commercial permit carries children more than 1.5 times of carrying capacity, the owner/driver would be prosecuted for permit and RC violation and police would suspend the vehicle's permit for a period of maximum 30 days," said Satyendra Garg, joint commissioner of police (traffic).

Besides, Garg said, speed interceptors would be used to measure speed of all school buses.

No school bus would be allowed to exceed the speed limit of 40 kmph, he said. Traffic police will use interceptors

to measure speed violations and Supreme Court violations by school vehicles. Errant Delhi vehicles will be prosecuted for violations of the Supreme Court guidelines for not having speed governors while other vehicles would be booked for over speeding.

"For the first offence we will warn the drivers by issuing a challan and in the second offence drivers' driving licences will be cancelled," he said.

Following death of a school boy on July 25, police have prosecuted 1,294 school vehicles.