BENGALURU: The state's Transport Department has seen a hike in the number of licences suspended for drunk driving since last year. Majority of the cases are from Bengaluru, according to transport officials. From 2017 to 2018, 32,765 driving licences have been suspended in the state for drunken driving, as per the department's annual report. In addition to this, 8,369 licences were suspended for other offences. This figure is a massive jump from the 14,881 licences that were suspended for drunk driving in the financial year 2016-2017.
“Until March 31, we have suspended around 42,000 licenses in Karnataka for various offences. Over 60 per cent of the driving licences suspended for drunken driving are from Bengaluru itself. They are suspended for a minimum of two weeks to a maximum of four weeks. We send the licence holders a notice initially, and ask them to appear before the Transport Department and give a statement,” said Narayanswamy, Additional Transport Commissioner, Enforcement (south).
“Licences were suspended this year for other offences that include repeat offenders for signal jumping, accident cases where the court mandates that licenses be suspended immediately, and overloading of trucks and lorries. The police hand over the licences of people they have booked to our department, and we take action,” he added.
Notices have been issued to 1,638 other licence holders for other offences this year. Last year, the number of licences suspended for offences apart from drunk driving was 7,064. The number of notices issued last year were 2,491. “Bengaluru has higher number of drunk driving cases for many reasons. The population is higher, the vehicle population is the highest with over 74 lakh vehicles out of the 1.94 crore in Karnataka. There are more pubs here, and a higher number of police personnel deployed for checking drunk drivers,” he added.
According to the 2015 to 2016 annual report, the Transport Department suspended 9,145 licences for drunken driving in Bengaluru alone. This was out of the 12,151 licenses suspended in the state for the same.
Licences suspended for drunken driving in Karnataka
14,881 2016 to 2017
32,765 2017 to 2018