By IANS,
New Delhi : Despite the ever-increasing traffic — the number of vehicles is estimated at 72 lakh — fatal accidents on Delhi roads declined to 2,007 in 2011 against 2,104 the previous year, Police Commissioner B.K. Gupta said Friday.
Addressing the Delhi Police’s annual press conference, Gupta said that there were 2,104 fatal accidents in 2010 in which 2,153 people died and the number came down in 2011.
“The figure dropped to 2,007 accidents with 2,066 people being killed in 2011… the figure has been lowest since 2005,” said Gupta adding that there are more than 72 lakh vehicles in the capital.
Meanwhile, the crackdown on drunken driving in 2011 was intensified, resulting in all-time high prosecutions at 18,073, the suspension of 2,212 driving licenses and the jailing of 2,960 offenders. The figure in 2010 was 11,388 prosecutions.
According to Gupta, more than 15 lakh people were prosecuted by policemen on bikes in the “chase and challan (fine)” squad.
“In 2011, 15,39,501 people were prosecuted by the chase and challan squad while the figure was 10,74,865 in 2010,” said Gupta.
“352 people were prosecuted for misuse of red beacons while the figure was 7 in the previous year,” added Gupta.
In 2011, there was also spike in the fining of commercial vehicles with the figure rising from 27,274 in 2010 to 37,427 in 2011.
The Delhi Police further advocated steep hike in fines for traffic violations arguing that the existing amounts fail to deter people.
“We expect the Motor Vehicle Act to be amended so that the fine amount can be increased. If an amendment is done, then the rates can be increased,” said Gupta.
“The heavy fine amount during Commonwealth Games resulted in less violations as nobody wants to pay more money,” he added.
Gupta further said that the police has marked 16 corridors as “zero-tolerance enforcement” zone and prosecuted over 92,000 people in 2011.
The traffic police have also identified 300 bus stops where policemen discipline people.