Drive against lane violation, 563 fined in three months

Violating lane discipline or driving in a zig-zag manner will now cost you as much as ₹1,000. And your licence could be seized for three months too.

The Delhi Traffic Police has started a crackdown on lane violations to make commuting safer. In the last three months, the traffic department fined 563 drivers for moving across lanes, as part of a special drive.

The drive has yielded the best results in central and Lutyens’ Delhi, where 254 fines were issued in the period. 102 fines were issued in south Delhi areas and 154 fines in west Delhi. Another 24 and 26 fines were imposed on drivers in east and north Delhi, respectively.

Lane violations, traffic officials said, are rampant in New Delhi mainly because of lack of physical dividers to differentiate lanes. The yellow paint that differentiates carriageways is easily overlooked by drivers, landing them in near-collision situations with traffic coming from the opposite direction.

Traffic officials said awareness has been created for other traffic violations such as signal jumping, drunk driving, and driving without seat belts, but lane driving is seldom followed.

“Lane violation is the most serious of traffic offences. By driving zig-zag and zooming into the opposite lane, you are not only putting your life in danger but are also endangering others’ lives,” said Alok Kumar, joint commissioner of police (traffic).

Local traffic cops said most drivers who were fined for lane violation had no knowledge of the offences committed.

“People always come out to argue because they do not consider lane violation as an offence at all. Most violators think they have been caught as a mistake,” said a traffic constable stationed at Lok Kalyan Marg.

Praveen Sinha, road safety expert, said at least 10% of collision deaths in Delhi happen because of lane violations.

“In fast-moving roads, it is important that there are physical divisions to force people to follow their lane. It also becomes important in India because of behavioural problems. We don’t follow rules for safety, we follow those for the fear of fines or when we have no other option,” Sinha said.