In a major crackdown on illegal bike racing on Thursday, the City Police seized 39 motorbikes and took into custody their drivers for allegedly resorting to overspeeding and rash driving.
Since the past few months, racing by youngsters on high-end bikes have been a common sight on the Beach Road, Asilmetta and Telugu Thalli flyover among the other areas, much to the inconvenience of the fellow motorists and pedestrians.
The police in the wee hours of Thursday caught a few of them red-handed while they were indulging in racing and the remaining after identifying them from their registration number plates, from the CCTV footages gathered from various places.
“So far, we have taken 39 youngsters into custody and we are in the process of identifying another 52-odd such racers,” City Police Commissioner Mahesh Chandra Laddha said here on Thursday.
Strigent action
“We have caught them in the past and warned them several times, but they did not mend their ways. This time, we are going to book cases as many were found drunk behind the wheel. We are in the process of getting their licence and vehicle registration cancelled,” he added.
The police are also planning to impose hefty fines ranging from ₹3,000 to ₹5,000 on the bikers.
ACP (Traffic) Dhanunjaya said that there is a group of about 100 youngsters who own high-end bikes and scooters and maintain a WhatsApp group.
“The information is circulated and all of them assemble in batches at various spots such as RK Beach to Tenneti Park, Tenneti Park to Bheemili, Rushikonda IT SEZ and Telugu Thalli flyover, and resort to racing, bike stunts and zig-zag driving,” he said.
According to Mr. Laddha, most of the youngsters are from middle-class and lower middle-class background and they force their parents to buy fast high-end bikes to take part in such activities.
“They not only put their lives to risk, but also put others into problem,” he said.
Cellphone driving
Mr. Laddha also cautioned that many workers of food delivery services were seen driving rashly and talking over cellphones while driving to reach the customers within the targeted time. Action will be initiated against them too,” he added.