Traffic rule-breakers just don’t see the red

Hyderabad: As many as 14,807 driving licenses have been suspended in the last four years in Telangana state. They include for violations ranging from drunk and driving, cell-phone driving, over-speeding to signal jumping.  

Meanwhile, in the current financial year alone, around 24,796 cases were booked for various road safety offences.

The period of validity of suspension would range from three months to six months depending on the offence.

In case of traffic violations, officials of the concerned zone would write to the Road Transport Authority (RTA), asking them to suspend the license in case of repeated offences. Following the recommendation of the traffic department, the RTA suspends the license, explained Mr. C Ramesh, Joint Transport Commissioner, RTA.

Out of the 14,807 suspensions, about 6,051 are in the city limits, Ranga Reddy, Medchal and Hyderabad zones. Of the 2,210 suspensions for drunk-driving, 1,586 were from the city.

There has been a four percent hike in the fatality rate in the comparative figures of road accident statistics for the year 2018 and 2019 between January and September.

The fatality rate in 2018 was 4,922, whereas the same touched 5,142 this year. There have been 16,029 accidents this year, which is three percent less than the 16,626 incidents last year.

Road Safety experts have pointed out that the trend of decrease in accidents and increase in fatalities is same throughout the country.

Mr Vinod K Kanumala, chief functionary, Indian Federation of Road Safety (IFRS) said that “The increase in technology by drivers is also one of the reasons for the decrease in instances of accidents. However, due to lack of instant post-crash facilities in the country, the fatality rate is increasing, which is in most of the states and not restricted to TS.”