No More Indiscipline: Maharashtra To Cancel Licence For Three Months For Using Mobile While Driving

The next time you are caught chatting on the phone while driving anywhere across the state, chances are you won¡¯t get behind the wheel for another three months. The traffic department has sent a circular to all traffic police branches demanding rigorous implementation of a three-year-old government resolution which requires them to forward driving licences of traffic offenders to the RTO for suspension.

The regional transport office is required to suspend licences for a minimum of three months for six types of violations mentioned in the GR. A ¡®zero tolerance¡¯ campaign has begun on the Pune-Mumbai Expressway and will soon be initiated on other highways as well.

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The six violations that find mention in the GR are speeding, drink driving, jumping signals, talking on the phone while driving, ferrying passengers in a commercial vehicle and overloading a commercial vehicle. ¡°The GR wasn¡¯t being implemented. Mere penalties won¡¯t deter offenders. Suspending his licence for three months will force him to stay off the road and serve as a lesson,¡± said SP (highways) Vijay Patil.

More than 35,800 road crashes were reported in Maharashtra last year, resulting in over 12,200 fatalities. A committee appointed by the Supreme Court under a retired judge has asked states to make efforts for reducing road crashes and fatalities by 10%. A review meeting held by the committee on November 12, which was attended by the principal secretary (Maharashtra), expressed disappointment that the police were forwarding a negligible number of driving licences of offenders to the RTOs for suspension. ¡°Every traffic police branch is instructed to forward maximum licences for suspension where offenders have committed the six types of violations specified. An action report has to be compiled by the state traffic department and subsequently sent to the SC-appointed committee,¡± the circular says.

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At a marathon meeting on Saturday, highway police officers had a discussion with road safety activists from the NGO Save Life Foundation, on factors that lead to fatal crashes on the Pune-Mumbai Expressway. ¡°We discussed how to tackle speeding, non-usage of seat-belts, zigzag driving or lane changing and illegal parking. Enhanced enforcement will be carried out on all these factors as part of the zero tolerance campaign,¡± said Piyush Tewari, founder of the NGO.