In 2016, the traffic police had booked about 94,000 cases against autorickshaw drivers and of them 6,000 pertained to cases booked against drivers for not possessing driving licence.
It is not only autorickshaw drivers, the cases for not possessing valid driving licences against all types of motor vehicle drivers, including two-wheelers and four-wheelers, are on the rise.
As per the records, four out of 10 people who are caught for different types of traffic violations, pertain to driving without licences, said Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (ADCP- Traffic) K. Mahendra Patrudu. And majority of the violators are youngsters in the age group of 18 to 24 years, he added.
Survey
In a recent survey done by the Traffic Police and the Road Transport Authority (RTA), majority of the youngsters and students of various colleges drive two-wheeler and four-wheelers without driving licence.
According to Mr. Patrudu, the RTA has confirmed that there is an increase in the number of youngsters, including girls appearing for the computerised driving test for the LLR, and most of them failed last year. “We have conducted a number of special drives during the road safety week and observed that about 45 % of the motorists who were found violating the traffic rules were drivers without driving licences,” said ACP (Traffic). Kinjarapu Prabhkar.
Accidents increasing
In 2016, there were over 3200 accidents in the city and in the district and about 700 people died. Of the total dead, about 10% were young motorists and autorickshaw drivers without driving licences, said a police officer from the traffic department.
Most of the accidents involving drivers without driving licence as they do not follow the basic rules such as overtaking from the wrong side, driving on the wrong side of one-way roads and over speeding, said Mr. Prabhakar. While there are about 12 lakh vehicles plying on the road in the city, only about 6.80 lakh licences were issued by the RTA. This clearly indicates that violations are on the rise, said an RTA official.
According to Mr. Mahendra Patrudu, maximum fine imposed for driving without licence is Rs. 500 and this is too meagre to become a deterrent. “The new motor vehicles rules should be implemented or the fine has to be increased to prevent such violations,” said the ADCP.
