Delhi: 9.5 lakh issued traffic violation notices during lockdown

The Delhi Traffic Police on Saturday said around 474 people were issued traffic challans while around 9.5 lakh people were sent notices for violating traffic norms during the two-month-long lockdown.

Police said commuters were fined for speeding, improper parking, one-way violation (wrong direction), for not wearing helmets and red-light violations across the city.

Due to the restriction on movement during the lockdown, only 474 were prosecuted for violating traffic norms. According to data, there’s a 75% decrease in the number of challans this lockdown when compared to last year.

Police said more than 1,958 people were prosecuted between March 25 and May 31 in 2020 during the lockdown. Traffic notices were sent to more than 20 lakh people during this period.

“This time, we had more restrictions on movement. Also, many on-spot violations weren’t fined due to Covid duties. Since the lockdown was lifted, we have been issuing challans both online and offline,” a senior police officer said.

Traffic Police have also installed more than a hundred cameras and scanners to catch red-light and speed violations across the city.

Before the lockdown, police said that they had penalised more than 5.3 lakh people for traffic violations this year.

This shows that there’s a 12% increase in the number of fines from last year when 4.7 lakh people were fined before the first lockdown.

The traffic police collected more than 188 crore in fines last year. They said this was because of the higher penalties that were introduced following the Motor Vehicle Act 2019 and 2020.

The Delhi Police also fined people for Covid violations during the pandemic.

Anil Mittal, Additional Delhi Police PRO, said more than 1 lakh people were fined for not wearing masks in public during the lockdown this year. Around 18,790 people were also penalised for violating social distancing norms.