KOLKATA: In a major decision which Lalbazar said was aimed at bringing down speeding and making motorists pay for their traffic offences, Kolkata traffic police has lodged FIRs against the 10 worst drivers who have the maximum number of
speeding cases against them in the past year. All 10 have been arrested and their vehicles seized. After a three-hour meeting on Wednesday, cops identified 36 others with multiple speeding cases pending against them.
“FIRs will be registered in five days,” said DC (traffic) Sumit Kumar. The FIRs are being registered under IPC 279 (rash driving), a bailable offence.
“Ever since 2017, we have installed speed guns across the city. However, even after challans are being issued, few are paying the fines or checking if they have violated rules. We want to change this aloofness. We went through a year’s record and identified the worst offenders — some with over 20 cases, but most with something between 12 and 18 cases against them.
“Seizing the vehicles is important — it acts as the biggest deterrent. While commercial vehicles were involved in other violations in large numbers, private vehicles have been found to be the worst violators,” said an officer.
The decision has drawn criticism from a section of motorists. “I still don’t get SMSs about traffic violations. Add to it the faulty speed cameras and cases slapped even though the motorist may not have been at the spot,” alleged Nabarun De Sarkar, a resident of Kasba Rathtala.
Cops said that such allegations hold little ground after changes in issuance of challans in the past year. “We use camera shots as evidence. The people-to-people interface has gone down,” said an officer.
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