NOIDA: It seems people in Gautam Buddh Nagar (GBN), which includes Noida and Greater Noida, are in the habit of breaking every traffic rule in the book. A fortnight, and more than 40,500 challans have been issued by the traffic police!
It has emerged that traffic police personnel fined over 2,700 commuters on an average daily, during the traffic drive launched on May 1. A whopping Rs 39 lakh has been collected in fines in just fifteen days.
According to data received from the traffic department, an average of 659 people were penalised every day for riding two-wheelers without helmets and 781 for driving without seat belts. “We have fined a total of 9,887 commuters riding their two-wheelers without helmets, while 11,727 vehicle owners were challaned for not wearing their seat belts,” said a senior traffic police official.
“A total of 40,551 commuters were caught violating traffic rules. While 3,205 vehicle owners paid Rs 14.53 lakh in fines offline, another 6,416 drivers/riders paid Rs 24.42 lakh in fines online,” he added.
Traffic offenders will not go scot-free. This is the message the GBN traffic police wants to drive home to commuters. Last week, the GBN district administration had also directed petrol pump owners not to sell fuel to people who ride bikes without helmets or do not wear seat belts, starting June 1.
As per District Magistrate BN Singh, the key goal of this endeavour is to enhance road safety. Though this order will initially be implemented only in Noida and Greater Noida, the administration plans to eventually extend it to the rural areas as well.
But the inability to buy fuel isn’t the only way the district administration intends to deter riders who do not wear helmets. It said it will also initiate legal action, including suspension of driving licence, against those who are caught riding two-wheelers without helmets. They will be arrested in case they are found behaving badly with the staff at fuel pumps.
In a statement, the district administration said, “When those without helmet reach filling stations, their details and vehicle numbers would be traced through CCTV footage and legal action initiated against them. Their driving licence can also be cancelled. In case anyone misbehaves with the staff at the filling stations, strict action would be taken against the errant person and they could even be jailed under section 151 of the Criminal Procedure Code.”