New Year’s eve: 657 fined for breaking traffic rules, over 4K for Covid protocols
The violations were reported between 6pm and the midnight, during which the Delhi Traffic Police carried out a special drive to prosecute errant motorists, said senior officers.
New Delhi: The Delhi Police penalised 36 people for drunk driving, 103 for dangerous driving, and 307 for riding two-wheelers without helmets, as they reported 657 traffic violations across the city amid subdued New Year celebrations in view of the restrictions imposed to curb cases of Covid-19.
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The traffic violations were reported between 6pm and the midnight, during which the Delhi Traffic Police carried out a special drive to prosecute errant motorists, said senior officers, adding that the number of violations reported this New Year’s eve was nearly half of those reported last year. Last year, 1,336 challans were issued for traffic violations on New Year’s eve. Of them 26 were for drunk driving and 174 for dangerous driving, the traffic police data shows.
The Delhi Police registered 294 cases of violations of Covid protocols, night curfew violations. According to official data, 870 challans were issued for mask and social distancing violations between 11pm on December 31 and 5am on January 1, 2022. Last year, the police issued 144 challans for mask and social distancing violations.
The district authorities realised ₹97.2 lakh in fines after penalising 4,997 people who were found violating Covid protocols. The highest number of cases of violations were reported from North district (731) followed by central district which reported 705 cases of violations. Since Delhi started reporting a surge in Covid cases driven by Omicron variant, the authorities have increased enforcement action on the ground.
Between December 26 and December 29, the 11 districts imposed fine of ₹3.4 crore for Covid appropriate behaviour violations.
“Our (Delhi Police) maximum strength of the traffic unit and police districts was on streets to tackle traffic violators and New Year’s eve revelers. Special pickets were created at strategic locations to catch motorists involved in drunk and dangerous driving. Going by the numbers of traffic prosecutions registered last night (December 31), we must say that Delhiites abided by the night curfew guidelines and other restrictions imposed by the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) in the city,” said Delhi Police spokesperson Chinmoy Biswal.
According to the data shared by the city police, of the 657 traffic violations, a little over 50% of them (370) were for riding bikes and scooters without helmet while 48 were for triple riding and 100 challans were for other violations. Since the traffic police were not using alchometers to check alcohol in the driver’s body, those who were visually drunk were sent to hospitals for checking of alcohol in their blood.
“We had [police] stations teams at hospitals for checking of alcohol in blood. Those found drunk were prosecuted and not allowed to drive further. A total of 36 drunk drivers were caught and prosecuted,” said a senior traffic police officer, who asked not to be named.
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