To control reckless racing by private buses, the Motor Vehicles Department (MVD) and the police will jointly begin ghost patrolling on the Kozhikode-Kannur National Highway from Monday.
A recent meeting of the Road Safety Authority has discussed the new proposal in detail and approved it in the presence of senior officers from the Police and Transport Departments.
Officials said the enforcement teams would keep their official vehicles off the road and use private cabs for on-the-spot interception of the violators. To keep official records of the violations, the patrolling vehicles will be fitted with high-end video cameras.
“So far, the MVD and the police had been just imposing fine on drivers involved in reckless driving. Henceforth, the practice of slapping fine will be replaced with on-the-spot suspension of licence,” said Deputy Transport Commissioner Rajeev Puthalath.
He said ghost patrolling, as the name signifies, would be a surprise check in nature and a special team would be assigned for it.
Along with ghost patrolling, two punching stations would be opened on the route to bring down incidents of road rage.
