Mobile interceptors of the Motor Vehicles Department (MVD) in the district have proved to be money-spinners.
Two interceptors have raked in over Rs. 25 lakh in just over a couple of months, with the department laughing all the way to the bank.
Those carried away by the thrill of over-speeding have turned out to be the biggest contributors, with motorists indulging in drunk, rash and negligent driving left not too far behind.
With the speed limit restricted to 30 km per hour (kmph) near schools, the strategic deployment of interceptors near these institutions helps bring in more moolah as hitting even 40 kmph is chargeable.
The drivers of taxis and other transportation vehicles speeding along at 90 kmph along four lane national highways ignorant of the 70-kmph restriction are also trapped by interceptors.
Only private vehicles are allowed 90-kmph speed on national highways.
No barriers for these buses
Private buses plying in the city have the uncanny knack of flouting rules notwithstanding the odds stacked against their actions.
A classic case plays out at Pipeline near Palarivattom Bypass Junction.
Not that long ago, the traffic police put up barriers along the stretch considering the narrowness of the Kakkanad-Palarivattom Road and the haphazard traffic approaching the bypass junction.
The barriers erected down the middle of the road were meant to bring about a semblance of order and more specifically aimed at keeping in check the unmindful overtaking of motorists trying to cross the junction before the signal turns red.
But some bus drivers proceeding in the direction of Kakkanad continue to overtake along the opposite track as if the barriers were non-existent.
This throws traffic on the two directions out of gear besides worsening the ordeal of motorists waiting at the traffic signal.
A breather for taxi owners
The four-month-long anxious wait of taxi and private car owners has eventually come to an end with the State government issuing an order last week easing the payment of tax.
The State budget had directed payment of tax by vehicle owners for five years from April 1 unlike for each year until then.
Car owners, especially, taxi operators found this to be a huge burden as they had to raise more than Rs. 10,000 as against a little over Rs. 2,000. Those who withheld payment of tax proved to be wise as the order has come with retrospective effect.
