BENGALURU: In a move aimed at reigning in habitual traffic rule-breakers, the Transport Department is in the final stages of making available its database of driving licences to the traffic police. This will enable the traffic police to start recording violations on the driver’s licence and recommend suspension of licences of those who violate rules with impunity.
So far, the database of vehicle owners had been shared with the traffic police, but this meant that the violations were raised against the vehicle owner regardless of who was driving the vehicle. While DL details are recorded in violations, there was no way of knowing if the same person had committed violations in the past. This will change as violations will henceforth be marked against the driver’s licence and not the vehicle owner.
The traffic police will soon have access to the Transport Department’s database of driving licences so that they can mark violations against the licence of the driver and not the vehicle owner.
“In many cases, violations are committed by the driver and, if the owner is someone else, the latter will have to pay the fine. Now, the traffic police can recommend suspension of licence as they will have a history of all cases booked against the licence holder. Vehicle owners will still be responsible for violations like vehicle not being operated safely or sun films installed on vehicles,” said Transport Commissioner B Dayananda.
The process of sharing the database has mostly been completed and a security audit is currently being carried out. “There are some technical issues which will be solved in the coming days and we will complete it in a few weeks time,” he said. According to officials, the process involves creating login IDs for police personnel and distributing them through the network enabling them to access the database.
Process will make suspension easy
Under the Central Motor Vehicle Rules and the Motor Vehicle Act, the Transport Department is empowered to suspend driving licences for several offenses including transport of prohibited goods, overloading of vehicle, using mobile phones or other devices that distract from driving, demanding excess fare and others under Section 21 of the CMVR, and habitual drunk driving offenders, those who drive in a manner to create danger to the public and other offences.
Marking a violation against the driver’s licence will enable traffic police to check for past violations the next time the motorist is caught. If it is found that the motorist is a habitual offender, then suspension can be recommended. “There is provision for suspension of licence and this can be done with the second offence of the same type itself. In cases like drunk driving and others, immediate suspension is recommended. For the other categories, traffic police can choose to recommend suspension if required,” Dayananda said.