Though the State government has issued an order to reduce the amount of fine to be paid for violating the rules of new Motor Vehicle Act, before the order comes into effect, the district traffic police, under the previous Act has already collected fine ₹2,48,800 between September 3 and September 18.
Besides spot fines, ₹1.3 lakh worth of fine has been imposed to be paid through the court by violators. While a total of 742 cases were filed on the spot, 11 were sent to the courts in the district. These 11 are related to drunken driving. Around 57 cases for no helmets and 42 for driving without valid driving license have been filed. Around 150 cases for carrying excess passengers has been filed and ₹95,000 fine has been imposed.
Upto 14 cases of haphazard parking, 6 for using mobile phones while driving, 30 for driving without seatbelt, 21 for signal jumping, 20 for reckless driving, 12 for defective silencers have been filed.
Prakash Nikam, SP, said before imposing the fines, the police conducted awareness programmes and installed boards at different places listing details of fine according to the Act. “We placed banners and hoardings at prominent places in the city to make people aware and give them time to collect required documents. Despite this, many vehicles owners did not follow the norms. So we filed cases and collected fines from them,” he said.
Deputy Commissioner Y.S. Patil directed the RTO to prepare a detailed project report on road safety in the district. At a meeting of the Road Safety Committee here recently, he told officials to identify roads where most accidents occurred and those built unscientifically.
