Highways continue to be epicentre of wrong side driving in Gurugram

The Gurugram Traffic Police issued more than 4,390 challans for wrong-side driving between January 1 and January 14, mostly on the Dwarka Expressway, the Delhi-Jaipur Expressway and the Southern Peripheral Road.

Officials said that ₹24.9 lakh were imposed as penalties on the violators.

“We impose a ₹500 fine for wrong-side driving. If a driver is driving dangerously, we impose an additional fine of ₹5,000. Most of these violators are two-wheelers, three-wheelers and medium goods vehicles,” said Virender Vij, deputy commissioner of police (traffic).

“We have deployed teams and 120 zonal officers to check for violations across the city. On the expressways where most violations occur, our teams are engaged in enforcement till 8pm. Motorists usually violate the rules to get on the connecting roads to reach their destinations from the wrong side instead of taking a proper turn from roundabouts or underpasses. Even those drivers with family and children as passengers have been found deliberately driving on the wrong side of the road,” he said.

Surinder Kaur, assistant commissioner of police, traffic (east Gurugram), said that the police have intensified awareness programmes in corporate offices, schools and colleges to bring down violations this year.

“We are holding several roadside events in the road safety month to make commuters aware that their actions pose a major risk to their and other’s lives. It was due to intensified checking and awareness that we were able to bring down the road accidents and fatalities last year by 13%,” she said.

At least 1,172 accidents that resulted in 494 deaths occurred in Gurugram in 2023. It came down to 1,019 accidents with 448 fatalities in 2024, officials said. Last year, the traffic police issued 174,072 challans for wrong-side driving violations and in 2023 they issued 40,254 such challans.