Bhubaneswar: Starting 1st November, 2022 the State Transport Authority has launched a two-month long special enforcement drive to promote safety, reduce accidents and fatalities throughout the State. In the month of November, a total of 35144 e-challans have been issued against vehicles who openly disregard Motor Vehicle (MV) rules in Odisha. A total of 5868 DLs have been confiscated for suspension and 1275 vehicles have been seized in a month.
The enforcement drive is focused on Driving without Helmet and Seat Belt, Drunken Driving, Over speeding, Use of Mobile while driving, Driving by juveniles, Checking of road worthiness of the vehicle, Wrong side driving, Driving without registration mark and Dangerous parking.
Fines have been imposed for various offences. A total of 9416 challans were issued for driving vehicles with excess speed. In the ongoing drive, a total of 15661 challans were issued in the last month for driving two-wheelers without helmet. Due to continuous enforcement activities people are using helmets in the urban areas but are unfortunately avoiding wearing helmets on highways where protection is much more needed. Around 622 challans were issued for triple riding and 225 for wrong side driving. A total of 38 challans were issued for underage driving.
The vehicles plying with overload were also detained and the excess load was offloaded after compounding of challan. Around 510 challans were issued for overloading. Due to overloading, the braking system & steering system of some of them were not working effectively. In some case the loaded material were not covered properly in accordance to direction of Hon’ble Supreme Court & MV laws. Similarly fitness certificate of 528 vehicles has been cancelled for violation of MV Act.
A total of 1452 people were found driving without seatbelt and challan was issued accordingly. Similarly a total of 1423 people have been detected driving under the influence of alcohol and were penalised as per the rule. A total of 719 people were fined for using mobile phone while driving. So far around 366 vehicles engaged in transporting school students in the State have been penalised for flouting road safety rules.
Lalmohan Sethi, Additional Commissioner Transport, Enforcement & Road Safety said, “There is increase in vehicle frequency on the road due to travelling by various road users to picnic spots and tourist destinations for holiday season in the State including Christmas and the New Year eve. The main aim of this drive is to create a sense of responsibility among the road users for prevention of road accidents and fatalities in the winter season. It has been observed that more accidents and fatalities occurred during the month of November to February.”
Sethi appealed the road users to follow the traffic rules and take care of their safety while driving. “Road Safety is a shared responsibility. I appeal public to adhere to traffic rules and help in reducing road accidents and fatalities related to it.”
Special enforcement drives will continue throughout the month of December.
