Be careful the next time you drive your car with blinding headlights on. The traffic police for this reason may stop you and book a case, besides imposing a fine.
The City Traffic police have made up their mind to initiate stern action against violators, because this is found to have led to a rise in the number of accidents.
“This offence is one of the primary contributing factors for increasing accidents, both fatal and non-fatal. We have decided to take strict measures to ensure safety on roads.We will conduct regular drives and penalise offenders,” B Dayananda, Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic and Security) said.
A surprise drives will be conducted by the police, may be thrice a week, all over the City.
A special drive on Saturday night at several places was conducted by the police and booked around104 cases against vehicles with dazzling lights.
It is an offence under Section 177 of the Indian Motor Vehicles Act (improper use of headlights). Fine for the first offence is Rs 100 and for subsequent offences, it is up to Rs 300, he said.
The offence is risking the lives of travellers and pedestrians in vehicles coming from opposite directions. The police have noticed that five per cent to 10 per cent of the accidents are taking place mainly because of vehicles with dazzling headlights.
A survey indicated that a majority of the offenders are youth belonging to well off families.
According to ACP (traffic-planning) Kanaka Kumar, the offences were noticed only after 9 pm. A large number of violations #involves high-end model cars.
The police carried out special checks for drunken driving at 100 places and inspected 12,789 vehicles (10 cabs, 13 tempo, 18 trucks, 23 autorickshaws, 156 cars, 595 two-wheelers and travellers).
About 815 drivers, which also include a woman driver, were found to have been drunk while driving. The alcometer proved the alcohol level in the blood of seven passengers at 550 mg, against the permitted level of 30 mg, the ACP said.
The police would send a letter to to regional transport authorities, recommending suspension of driving licences of the offenders, he added.