BENGALURU: Vehicle users, especially two-wheeler riders — who were used for a care-free ride without wearing helmets and flouting traffic rules during the lockdown, are in for a shock over the last few days, as the traffic police have started cracking down on even smallest of violations.The Covid-induced lockdown had reduced vehicular movement to a large extent in the city, and the traffic police too had stopped enforcement. As a fallout, motorists and bikers started violating traffic rules, such as riding without a helmet, triple riding, signal jumps, over-speeding and others.
The traffic police, due to the pandemic, had started contactless enforcement and issued notices through Field Traffic Violation Report (FTVR). Now, with normal vehicular traffic back on city roads, the traffic police have also started fining the violators. “Commuters tend to violate rules if there is no police presence. That is what exactly happened during the lockdown. Though it had come to our knowledge, we did not go for strict enforcement keeping the safety of our staff in mind, but contactless enforcement was on. However, the enforcement is back like pre-Covid times now,” a senior police officer said.
The police are sending a strong message to violators by checking vehicles on main roads and major junctions. In just seven days, from September 13 to 19, the police booked 48,141 cases, collecting Rs 2,14,38,000. More than 50 per cent of these cases were booked for helmet-less riding.
Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic) BR Ravikanthegowda said, “Due to the pandemic, we were following contactless enforcement. There were also some accidents because of this. We started the enforcement again four weeks ago and it is in full swing over the past week. Discipline is back among commuters. We are taking all precautionary measures to ensure the safety of our staff.”