3 lakh traffic violators challaned in first four months of 2018 in Gurugram, ₹5.5 crore collected in penalty

In 2017, 31,000 fines had been issued till April.

Traffic violators in Gurugram are having a hard time since the beginning of this year as the Gurugram traffic police has issued over 3 lakh fines in first four months of 2018. This is almost 10 times the number of fines (31,000) issued in the first four months in 2017, shows data compiled by the traffic police.

The focus on enforcement has led to a windfall for the traffic police, which collected ₹5.5 crore in penalty from offenders this year. (HT File Photo)

Traffic police personnel said that the steep rise in the number of fines issues this year is first because of the increased focus on penalising violators, the monthly, at times bimonthly ‘No Tolerance Day’ has helped the traffic fine violators.

“Managing traffic is one of the key challenges faced by the police in the city and this was the reason for focusing on enforcement. The strength of traffic police is going to increase soon and this will further help in checking violations,” said Gurugram commissioner of police Sandeep Khirwar.

The focus on enforcement has led to a windfall for the traffic police, which collected ₹5.5 crore in penalty from offenders this year. This amount stood at just ₹62 lakh in the corresponding period in 2017.

According to the data collected by the Gurugram traffic police, maximum number of fines were issued for parking on the wrong side of the road, wrong side driving, driving without strapping the seat belt, riding two-wheelers without helmets, pillion riders caught without helmets and driving without licence.

However, this year fewer people were fined for driving while using a cellphone. Till April, 258 fines were issued for this violation, against the 381 fined last year in the corresponding period. The total fines issued for driving/riding while using the cellphone in 2017 was 1,161.

Senior police officials maintained that their primary objective behind increased enforcement was to reduce the number of road accidents and fatalities.

Last year, 481 persons lost their lives in accidents that took place due to rash driving, speeding, signal jumping and jaywalking. In the first quarter of 2018, 115 persons were killed in 286 road accidents.

“An important factor that helped catch more traffic rule violators was local police personnel’s active involvement in the enforcement drives alongside the traffic police,” Gurugram police spokesperson Ravinder Kumar said.