CHENNAI: One may think of jumping a signal at a traffic junction an innocuous act, but soon such ‘minor’ transgressions will become part of a permanent record with the Tamil Nadu transport department soon to open a ‘history sheet’ for each motorist caught violating road rules. All key violations will be entered into the data of motorists and will be made accessible to enforcement authorities, part of the department’s crackdown on violators.
The history sheet will form part of data of motorists along with driving licence, registration certificate, renewal and vehicle transfer order. All this information will be fed into a chip-based smart card which will replace the current form of driving licence.
“We are going to issue smart cards for fresh applicants of driving licence soon. Road-rule violations by motorists, penalties slapped on them and the nature of offence will be fed into the smart cards, thus creating a history sheet of offences,” said C Samayamoorthy, Transport Commissioner. The department will begin issuing the smart cards in a month.The ‘history sheet’ can be accessed by enforcement agencies whose authorities will be equipped with tablets that can read the smart cards.
Offences such as overloading and transporting people in goods vehicles, using mobile phones while driving, drunken driving and jumping of red signals will be entered into the smart card, besides details of accidents caused by the motorists.