VISAKHAPATNAM: Cracking the whip on the motorists who do not give two hoots to the road safety regulations, the Road Transport Authority (RTA) has suspended 58 driving licences for three months during a drive conducted in Visakhaptnam district in the last three days. This is the first such step taken by the authorities to make the erring drivers fall in line.
The special drive was undertaken as per the guidelines of the Standing Committee on Road Safety on the directions of the Supreme Court, the RTA authorities said. Most of the licences suspended are of driving motor vehicles while talking on cellphones, over-speeding and not adhering to safety rules in the case of transport and goods vehicles.
RTA teams conducted random checks at various places in the city in the last three days. According to officials, around 100 goods vehicles with national permit were checked on Thursday, out of which 70 had a single driver which is against the mandatory second driver rule for these vehicles.
“The remaining vehicles from Tamil Nadu had a second driver while the transport vehicles from most other states, including Andhra Pradesh, were not complying with the rule,” said Venkateswara Rao, RTA deputy commissioner, Visakhapatnam.
He also said that overloading and carrying passengers in goods vehicles would result in suspension of licences for three months.
According to the officials, the collectors of various districts would conduct a review on the road safety drives held in the district every third Tuesday of the month and the chief minister would hold a review meeting at the state-level on the fourth Tuesday and submit a report to the Justice Radhakrishnan Committee.
SC directive
Dist collectors to hold review meets on road safety every third Tuesday of the month
Chief Minister to review the state-level scenario on fourth Tuesday
Report to be submitted to Justice Radhakrishnan Committee