Those found violating traffic laws would find the going tough, what with the integration of servers belonging to the police and transport departments being complete. The new system of penalty points for violations would begin on August 1.
When contacted, Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic) V. Ravinder and Joint Transport Commissioner T. Raghunath confirmed this, adding it would be a significant step towards safety on the roads. Asked about those who have a valid driving licence, but not with them while driving, the officials said they can display the document on their smartphone’s M-Wallet. And what if they have no licence at all? “Criminal proceedings will be initiated,” chorused the officers. A dozen violations of the Telangana Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989, including driving on the wrong side of the road, riding without a helmet or not wearing a seat belt, would attract penalty points that would be valid for 24 months and would lead to suspension of licence for one, two and three years.
The objective of traffic policing, especially in urban areas, was to have ‘copless’ junctions from August 1, but interceptor vehicles would be stationed at strategic locations, Mr. Ravinder said. Traffic police personnel would be there to manually stop vehicles and ask the drivers for documents.
Driving without a helmet or without seat belt would earn the errant driver one penalty point, over-speeding would mean three points. Those committing driving offences with a Learner’s Licence would find them cancelled if they earn five points. Drunken-driving would earn five penalty points on a public vehicle, three for a two-wheeler and four points for a four-wheeler, lorry and other goods carriers.
The G.O. provides for reduction of penalty points in case the driver goes through a defensive driving or motor vehicle accident preventive courses to be conducted by the department and/or those conducted by a recognised training institution.