Next time you think of parking your vehicle in a no-parking zone or on a footpath, give it a second thought as doing so will mean suspension of your driving licence.
Bangalore City Traffic Police have now decided to recommend to the Regional Transport Office to suspend the driving licences of owners whose vehicles are booked for wrong parking. This decision was taken at a meeting that discussed how wrong ways of parking was contributing to the traffic mess, especially on major arterial roads.
City Police Commissioner M.N. Reddi suspended a police inspector attached to the Cubbon Park Traffic Police after he was caught in a traffic snarl near Cash Pharmacy circle for nearly half-an-hour, sources said. Unregulated parking led to traffic mess at that junction, a senior official said.
Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) B. Dayananda told The Hindu that traffic police would recommend the suspension of driving licences henceforth even for the first offence of wrong parking. He said even though they had booked over 11 lakh cases for wrong parking in 2014 alone till November, there was no improvement in the situation. Similar action will also be taken against vehicles parked on footpaths.
Traffic police can recommend suspension of licence under section 19 of the Indian Motor Vehicles Act and Rule 21 of the Central Motor Vehicle Rules. The licensing authority, RTO, can suspend the driving licence for a certain period of time after giving the licencee a chance to explain. However, the Transport Department has a huge backlog of pending cases in which the the traffic police have recommended suspension of licence.
