NEW DELHI: Here is a piece of news that may lead you to believe that the bug of discipline has caught Delhi’s drivers at last. If the falling number of traffic prosecutions is any indicator, the latest data released by the Delhi Traffic Police are startling as it happens in a city known for rash driving and road rage incidents.
At a time when vehicles are jostling to find their lanes on the crowded roads, an offence as common as signal violation has witnessed a decline. Only 92,000 people were ticketed last year for signal violations whereas the number was over four lakh in 2015.The number of dangerous driving has also gone down from 2.37 lakh in 2015 to over two lakh in 2016. Similarly, overspeeding has seen a fall—from 2.40 lakh in 2015 to over 86,000 the next year. Also, wrong overtaking came down to over 2,600 last year from over 6,300 in 2015.
Similarly, in 2015, more than 1,900 vehicle owners allowed minors to drive, but last year when a speeding Mercedes driven by a minor killed a 32-year-old IT professional in north Delhi’s Civil Lines area, police ticketed only 746 vehicle owners for the same violation. In fact, taxi and autorickshaw drivers seem to have started following rules, according to the DTP data; 782 of them were challaned in 2016 for refusing passengers against more than 2,100 in 2015. Even less number of goods vehicles—2,035—carried passengers last year, the figure was more than 94,000 in 2015.
In 2016, traffic police held lesser drivers than in 2015—from 7,945 to 7,370. Police impounded 49,000 vehicles in 2016 against 51,787 in 2015. However, 13,000 driving licences were punched following the SC directive that prevents violators from driving for minimum of three months. The figure is negligible compared to the violations in 2016, which is 40 lakh. Challans were issued to 34 lakh people in 2015, and the higher number of challans in 2016 is attributed to enforcement of new rules such as riding without helmet.
However, they could challan 50 per cent less drivers for such violations. In 2015, the traffic police challaned more than 10,000 buses, the number came down to approximately 5,800 drivers for SC rule violations in 2016. Offences such as not driving in proper lane, running without speed governor and wrong over taking have seen a fall in challans.
Traffic police said December 2016 saw rise in challans as people fearlessly flouted rules.