Tuesday was marked an important day for Hyderabad as it was the first city in India to release the traffic penalty point system.
The penalty points range from one to five based on the severity of the rule broken.
Drunken riding of a two wheeler will cost 3 points whereas drunk driving a public vehicle like auto, bus, etc., will be 5 points. Not wearing helmet or seat belt will cost you one point.
Joint Commissioner of Police, V. Ravinder said, “If a person accumulates 12 points over a period of two years, his/her licence may be suspended for a while or even cancelled and the punishment could even be imprisonment up to three months.”
The implementation led to 60 to 70 teams of uniformed traffic personnel patrolling the city. The main focus will be during the evening.
Deputy Commissioner, A.V. Ranganath said, “Each of the 25 traffic police stations in the Hyderabad Commissionerate has two to three traffic enforcement teams, led by an officer of the rank of Sub Inspector and above, with a tab in hand for instant verification and payment.”
He further added, “For us, the enforcement of traffic rules is not new. The approach is visible policing on the roads and this time, we are confident that the new system will go down as a novelty.”
On the 31st of July, one day before the penalty system was imposed, 11,000 pending challans were paid off by the respective drivers.
It has also been pointed out with statistics that fatal road accidents have reduced largely.
Mr. Ranganath said, “People are increasingly becoming conscious of following the basics of road discipline—wearing a helmet, sticking to the lanes and not over speeding. This is not to say that everything is hunky dory, but suffice it to say that there is a change for the better.”
