City traffic police to chase top 500 fine defaulters

Rate of fine collection stands at just around 60%, say officials

BANGALORE:03/04/2012:A police constable taking picture of traffic violation by a two wheeler at Padmanabha Nagar in Bangalore. The Bangalore Traffic Police (BTP) has distributed digital cameras to its personnel to take pictures of violators as proof. In the first-three months of this year BTP has collected Rs 8.74 crore as fine. In 2011 rs 50.56 crore was collected. PHOTO G R N SOMASHEKAR

The Bangalore Traffic Police’s (BTP) move towards increasing camera-based monitoring of violations has hit a hurdle.

In 2016, over 91 lakh traffic violations were raised by the police, an increase of around 15 lakh cases compared to the previous year. However, when it comes to fine collection, the current rate is only around 60%, officials said. While raising challans and catching offenders have become easier with cameras and CCTV monitoring, getting violators to pay the fine amount is a tough task. Offences recorded on camera are sent to the Traffic Management Centre, where challans are issued to the registered address of the vehicle.

However, in many instances, the owners do not react to these challans. “They do not pay the fine. Now we are making a list of the top 500 vehicles with the maximum number of violations and catching the owners on the road to make them pay up,” said Additional Commissioner of Transport R. Hitendra.

The traffic police has for the first time put up a list of violators, their names, number of cases as well as their registered address on the website.

According to statistics collected by the BTP, around 48 lakh cases were booked through automated methods in 2016. The fine collected, however, is around ₹2.2 crore. In comparison, around 42 lakh cases were booked on the spot and the fine collected was ₹61 crore. “There are several instances in which the vehicle owner has changed his/her address and not updated it with the RTO. As a result, the challans do not reach them,” Mr. Hitendra said.

Other officials attributed the dismal collection to smaller fine amounts. “Most of these cases involve fines amounting to ₹100. As a result, the numbers are low. There are some cases carried forward from last year as well as violators are given some time to respond to the traffic challan before paying the fine,” a senior police officer said.

Around 65 lakh vehicles are registered across all RTOs in the city. However, the issue of address change is something that even has the Transport Department worried. “Any change in address must be informed within 30 days but this rarely happens. Vehicle owners continue to use their vehicle registered in the previous address and challans are sent to the old address,” an official pointed out.