Delhis’ Most Unsafe Drivers Issued Warnings
For many people, driving is an enjoyable process that helps them unwind and take their minds off stressful matters. This is obviously not applicable to everyone, as getting from point A to point B is the only aim derived for the others. Merely a means of transportation like getting a bus or a train, these people are happy to just reach their destinations. For the one who enjoys driving, however, there are some intrusions that can hamper their relaxation process. This mainly comes in the form of those who think of themselves above the law while they are on the road. (Either that or they are merely uneducated when it comes to the rules of the road). The ones who jump the signals, turn without using signals, overtake from the left side, are the people who cause a significant rise in the blood pressure of the motorists who are in close vicinity to them. These people sometimes get away with their antics, but sooner or later, their actions catch up to them and they are issued challans.
Challans are the fines issued against those who violate the rules. On the road, these violators are discovered by either the traffic police stationed across the city or by the cameras that survey the roads 24×7. The fact that you have to pay money means that most people take the challans as warnings and take care of not repeating the same offenses in the future. Some folks, however, just aren’t bothered. They just pay off their fines (or circumvent it through shady dealings) and then go about repeating the same mistakes, much to the dismay of the other people wanting to drive peacefully.
The Delhi Traffic Police has perhaps had enough of this sort of behavior as they prepare to announce a list of the ‘100 most dangerous drivers’. If you’ve ever been to the urban areas in Delhi, you will realize that it takes some amount of skill to navigate the roads packed with vehicles (This is despite the implementation of the ‘odd/even rule). In such a place where you have to master the art of driving and rule flouting is commonplace, it takes a certain amount of ‘ability to make it to the top 100 list.
In fact, this is the first time that such drastic measures have been taken by the Traffic Unit to bring a sense of order to the roads that are in a sense of disarray. The reduction of traffic accidents and casualties is the primary goal of such a procedure since road injuries account for 4.9% of the deaths across the nation in a year. In the previous year, 1,189 people died in road accidents in Delhi, with 537 being injured in hit-and-run accidents. Delhi also recorded the highest casualties in road accidents,
“We have been thinking of this idea for a while. People who commit murder or are involved in other heinous crimes are often tagged as ‘bad characters’ or history-sheeters. This makes it easier for police to identify them. For offenders in road traffic cases, there are no such rules. Many offenders jump red lights, drive rashly, and are caught speeding several times. Even people who are involved in hit-and-run and drunk driving are let off easy. We want to create a more concrete structure to make people aware of road safety.”, says Special Commissioner of Police Muktesh Chander. (Source: The Indian Express)
So the next question that arises is how these individuals are to be identified and notified about their newly acquired status. For identification, the police plan on running a check across their database to pinpoint the people with the highest number of challans issued against them. But then some people might have an extensive amount of challans against them for driving without a seatbelt. This does not make them dangerous to other people, only to themselves.
To avoid the silly mistake of misidentifying the problematic individuals, the offenders will be picked from the challans issued against them for red light jumping, rash driving, speeding, and accidents.
Once the 100 infamous individuals have been identified, the next step is notifying them of their new title. This is to be done by sending a notice to their homes.
But merely punishing them might not come to anything. Thus, these people will also be asked to attend road safety classes. Failure to attend them, along with a continued breaking of the rules will lead to further heavier action being pursued.
