COIMBATORE: The city traffic police, in collaboration with the transport department, have temporarily suspended licence of over 5,500 motorists for repeated traffic offences, in the last 11 months.
To ease traffic congestion and avoid accidents, traffic police often conduct vehicle checks at key spots in the city. Additionally, the police also engage in public awareness campaigns frequently to discourage traffic violations. Despite efforts, people are worried that rate of violations and accidents have not declined.
Police said there were 268 fatal accidents in the city from January to November this year, resulting in 274 fatalities, including 94 pedestrians. In the same period last year, there were 270 accidents, leading to 275 deaths.
Between January and November 2024, a total of 967 individuals were injured in road accidents, which is an increase from 805 injuries reported last year. Although several road safety measures have been implemented, violations continue to cause accidents resulting in fatalities or serious injuries.
Traffic violations like overspeeding, driving under influence, using mobile phones while driving, not wearing helmets and seat belts, overloading vehicles, or jumping signals, are closely monitored by the traffic police and penalties are imposed immediately.
Following the directive of City Police Commissioner V Balakrishnan, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) S Ashok Kumar established separate teams to oversee traffic violations on major roads. These checks are intensified during weekends, when violations tend to rise