VIJAYAWADA: The Vijayawada police collected a record fine amount of Rs 9.21 crore from traffic violators in 2019. The figure is double the amount collected in 2018 (Rs 4.66 crore). In 2017, the police collected Rs 5.92 crore as penalties from violators of traffic rules. According to the data obtained from Vijayawada police, it can be observed that the percentage of traffic enforcement drives increased as the number of e-challans rose to 3.84 lakh in 2019 from 2.3 lakh the previous year. Of the total, 2.5 lakh challans were issued against commuters for riding two-wheelers without helmets, while the remaining include drunk driving, driving in wrong direction, signal jumping, triple riding, overspeeding, minors at the wheel, driving while using mobile, not having a license, smoking in vehicles and others violations. In 2018, traffic police issued as many as 2,36,508 challans and collected Rs 4.66 crore from violators.
Meanwhile, in 2017 around 2.53 lakh traffic violations had been reported and revenue generation for the traffic department spiked to Rs 5.92 crore. When a senior traffic department official was questioned regarding the spike in issuance of challans and consequent rise in revenue generation in 2019 as compared to 2018, he cited the new Motor Vehicle (amended) Act as the reason and added that the police are taking all measures to reduce road accidents and the deaths caused as a result.
“Fearing the new MV Act which contains provisions of hefty penalties when it comes to traffic violations, the public cleared all pending challans. In September and October, we collected Rs 4 crore revenue in the form of fines. We are also trying to create awareness among commuters on the use of helmets and following traffic rules,” said Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (ADCP) TV Nagaraju. Nagaraju opined that the problem of drunk driving must be dealt with more strictly, than just collecting fines and letting off the offenders without punishment. He also warned the public that the traffic police will click photos of traffic violators at every junction. “With these photos, an officer sitting in the command control room can simply issue an e-challan.”