Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Traffic violation-prone zones under the scanner

— File Photo

RULE’S RULE: Traffic police plan to come down heavily on stop line violators from Monday.

CHENNAI: The Chennai City Traffic Police have identified 25 zones prone to drunken driving and over-speeding. A total of 11 special teams have been deployed along these stretches where about 1,000 cases were registered in the last 10 days.

Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic), Sunil Kumar, said the next step would be to prosecute those resorting to drunken driving. “We will soon be prosecuting habitual offenders. While the vehicle involved will be seized, steps will be taken to cancel the driving licence of the offender and also pursue the case under the Motor Vehicles Act,” he told The Hindu.

The traffic police have also planned an intensive drive from Monday to enforce the stop-line rule firmly. “To start with, the drive will be launched on Anna Salai and extended to other busy roads. We are working on a few traffic restrictions that will ease congestion on the Anna Salai.”

Mr. Sunil Kumar said more than 50 per cent of vehicle-owners who were sent notices by the police for various traffic violations were not responding. “We have given enough time to pay fine. The next step will be to issue summons and produce them in the court,” he warned.

The number of fatal road accidents, as on date this year, had increased by 17 compared to the number during the same period in 2007. “Besides creating awareness of road safety, we have taken many measures to prevent road accidents. Since drunken driving and over-speeding have emerged the reasons for a majority of accidents, we want to minimise the violation by imposing heavy fine and initiate prosecution proceedings,” he said. Cases were also being registered against registered owners who were allowing minors to use their vehicles.

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