City sees spurt in traffic offences

City sees spurt in traffic offences

MK Madhusoodan. Bangalore

In the last week of December and the first two days of the New Year, the city saw a spurt in drunken driving cases.
According to official records, in the week between December 27 and January 2, as many as 754 cases of drunken driving were registered by the traffic police. The week preceding it, between December 20 and December 26, had only a paltry 65.
"This shows that we have been very strict in checking drunken driving cases during New Year's Eve. We had warned much in advance that drunken driving will not be tolerated during the New Year week. We also prevented a large number of accidental deaths on city roads through this move," an officer pointed out.
The number of cases booked against motorists, who were caught driving without a driving licence, also saw an increase during this period. While as many as 629 motorists were booked for this offence during the New Year period, only 428 were caught in the previous week. The city also saw a phenomenal increase in cases of signal jumping during the week covering the New Year as compared to the previous one, with a huge leap from 1,181 to 7,748 cases.
Figures of rash driving also stood at 533 (from December 26 to January 6), as against 752 in the preceding week. Overspeeding cases also shot up from 1,278 to 1,788. Spot fines collected by the city traffic police between December 20 and 26 stood at Rs 75,08,500 for 53,685 cases, against the December 27-January 2 figure of Rs 54,34,200 for 37,140 cases.
"The amount recovered through spot fines during the New Year week was less when compared to the previous one because all the drunken driving cases were referred to courts," a police officer said.