Pune: 90 driving licenses are suspended every day by the traffic police and the Regional Transport Office (RTO) in the state. Considering the road safety issues in cities like Pune and Mumbai, the action taken by traffic police and RTO seems ‘too little too less’ as of today.
Most of the road accidents are being caused by human mistakes. These mistakes can be easily avoided if traffic rules are followed by all motorists. Hence it is very important to enforce traffic discipline and take action against errant motorists in the state. A part of this action is that 90 driving licenses suspended by the RTO and traffic police everyday of motorists who were caught violating traffic rules. The information from RTO and traffic police reveals that from January 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020, about 46,000 licenses have been suspended by the authorities.
The proposal for suspending licenses of errant motorists sent by the traffic police is acted upon by the RTO. Licenses are being suspended for jumping signals, over-speeding, talking over mobiles while driving vehicle, transporting passengers in freight vehicles, drink and driving, overloaded cargo and riding bikes without helmet. The RTO has suspended licenses of 34,991 motorists in 2019 and 11,031 in the year 2020 till the end of June.
Committee for accident analysis
The Transport Commissioner has directed to set up an accident investigation and analysis committee in every police station in the state to investigate road accidents and take effective measures to prevent them. The committee is expected to comprise of officers and staff from police stations, public works department and transport department.
After a serious accident in the jurisdiction of the concerned police station, this committee will study the causes behind it in the next 48 hours. If there are similar repeated incidents at the same place, it will be analyzed and recommended to the district road safety committee for remedial action.
Overview of license suspension
| Type of traffic violation | 2019 | 2020 (till June) |
| Signal Jumping | 6052 | 1541 |
| Over speeding | 4299 | 571 |
| Talking over mobile while driving | 14352 | 4092 |
| Passenger transport by freight vehicle | 2405 | 687 |
| Drink and drive | 4746 | 1683 |
| Overloaded cargo | 2418 | 705 |
| Riding bike without helmet | 7191 | 752 |
| Total | 34991 | 11031 |
- Licenses sent by traffic police to RTO for suspension: 48,142
- Direct suspension of licenses by RTO: 46,022
- Cases pending with Traffic Police, RTO: 5,113