SRINAGAR: Tightening noose against the violators, the Traffic Police Jammu Rural, till the month of November this year, has penalised 124557 traffic violators during the special drives launched in parts of its area of responsibility.

Senior Superintendent of Police, Traffic Rural Jammu, Vinay Kumar, said that to educate and make the general public, as well as transporters and drivers, aware of traffic rules and regulations, special drivers were launched in the rural belts.

“Special stress of drives was given upon the visible offense(s) like overloading, rash and negligent driving, overspeeding, and without crash helmets or seat belts, so that the number of violators was tightened in the area,” said the SSP.

He said that till November this year, a total of 124557 challans were issued to the violators, and a total of Rs 19623570 in fines was collected from violators.

The officer added that 1864 vehicles were seized for various offenses, and out of the total challans issued against vehicles, 14083 were against overloading, 720 were against dangerous driving and overspeeding, 59 were under the influence of liquor, 51748 were against crash helmets, 4750 were against vehicles without seat belts, and 17406 vehicles were against wrong parking. Traffic Police has also counseled the violators before the imposition of a fine, and 400 regular traffic awareness programs on road safety and traffic rules have been conducted so far.

"Moreover, to have a check on the repeated and habitual offenders 22 DLs, 12 RCs, and eight RPs have also been recommended for cancellation with details of committed traffic violations to the transport authorities for stern action as a corrective measure,” he added, adding that 14 FIRs have also been registered under relevant sections during enforcement duties against overloading or dangerous driving.

Javaid Iqbal Tabassam, DySP (T) Samba-Kathua, and DTIs concerned also participated in the special drives launched to curb the menace of traffic violations, particularly overloading, overspeeding, rash driving, negligent or stunt driving, wrong parking on roads, and other visible traffic offenses.

A similar type of special drive was also launched in Rajouri and Poonch Districts under the supervision of Nawaz Ahmed, Dy SP (T) Rajouri-Poonch, he said.

The SSP (Traffic) Rural Jammu had stressed on the traffic cops to ensure proper discipline, accountability, and transparency in the traffic management system so that the violators could be dealt with iron hands under the provisions of Motor Vehicle Act.

The officers have been further directed to ensure the wearing of body-worn cameras while performing enforcement and regulation duties. The enforcement officers shall ensure to give special stress to visible offenses like overloading, overspeeding, without seat belts, use of mobile phones & without crash helmets, driving under the influence of liquor, etc, he added.

He said that the service of modern gadgets like breath analyzers, noise pollution devices, speed radar guns, and other digital services and apparatuses shall be pressed into service to have a deterrence on ground level.

SSP Traffic Rural further stressed on the violators to keep all the documents of their respective vehicles intact along with them either physically or in digi locker and get the same checked at the traffic checking point/Nakas.

The officer further appealed or requested that the owners of the vehicles, transporters, and agents extend their full cooperation to the traffic police so that a proper check over the traffic violators/violations is maintained.

The general public, as a whole, has to participate in this process and take responsibility for the hassle-free movement of vehicles for the convenience of themselves and other road users.

The officer especially advised the youth to ensure the wearing of a crash helmet while driving their bikes / two-wheelers, including the pillion rider, and avoid triple riding for their own safety and security, adding, “The vehicle operators have been briefed to ply their respective vehicles within the prescribed speed limit and avoid overloading, rashing, and negligent/stunt driving on the road, so that precious human lives could be saved.” (UNI)