The National Capital’s roads, known for their infamous traffic jams, are also notorious for rampant disregard of traffic rules, with official data revealing a massive 150 per cent jump in “wrong lane driving” violations, as compared to last year. while incidents of “driving against traffic” increasing by about 70 per cent. While police credit this staggering rise in number of violations to better enforcement, the city’s traffic congestion may also be pushing drivers to break rules, as they look for quicker ways to reach their destination.
According to official data, till December 2 2024, the police issued 4,662 challans on vehicle owners for not plying in designated lanes as compared to 1,732 challans in 2023 and 1,829 challans in 2022. The fine for this violation is Rs 1,000 for private vehicles and Rs 10,000 for commercial vehicles.
Similarly, in the same period, 99,962 challans have been issued for driving against the flow of traffic marking a significant rise from the last year when 59,527 challans were issued in 2023 and 43,768 issued in 2022. Violations in this result in a fine of Rs 5,000 against the vehicle owners. Even for “no entry” restrictions, the city witnessed 1,37,318 challans this year while it was 1,14,646 in 2023 and 84,067 in 2022 even as a hefty fine of Rs 20,000 is slapped on drivers.
According to Special Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Ajay Chaudhary, the rise can be attributed to special drives conducted by the Delhi Police and coordinated efforts of the department to curb such violations on the roads.
The streets of the Capital are also constantly cramped with vehicles parked improperly with a total of 4,88,602 such violations seen this year, marking a rise from 4,70,771 challans in 2023 and 3,58,067 challans in 2022. A fine of Rs 500 is issued for such violations by the police. They also towed 1,78,108 vehicles for improper parking as against 1,60,799 vehicles in 2023, and 1,33,800 vehicles in 2022.
Additionally, a total of 4,56,189 vehicle owners have been slapped with challans, which amount to Rs 10,000, regarding non possession of Pollution under Control Certificate (PUCC), as against 2,32,885 in 2023 and 1,64,638 in 2022. The police have impounded 8,231 End of Life vehicles (ELVs) while only 528 were impounded in 2023 and 1,147 in 2022.
In light of the air pollution in Delhi and the subsequent pulling up of the Delhi Police by the Supreme Court for failing to implement the Graded Response Action Plan (Grap) Stage 4 restrictions, police have also intensified its drive against non destined goods vehicles trying to enter the city. The police checked 2,28,235 such vehicles this year including 2,16,028 being checked when the GRAP came into force on October 15, marking a steep rise from 23,089 checked in 2023 and 12,268 checked in 2022. Out of the checked vehicles, 26,379 were returned in this year, 10,012 in 2023 and 3,274 in 2022.
Addl/CP (Traffic) Satyaveer Singh Katara added that the police will continue its drive and ensure that tough measures are implemented on the roads. “Some people think they can take shortcuts to avoid traffic but we all need to develop basic road sense. We will ensure that we curb such violations and take strict measures against these offenders,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Shashank Jaiswal said.
Further, the Delhi Traffic Police also said that to make sure that non-destined vehicles do not enter the national Capital, they have also deployed police personnel on several pickets outside Delhi as well in different districts including Sonipat, Gurugram and Jhajjar in Haryana, and Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh.
Moreover, Katara informed that they had deployed traffic personnel in 42 entry points even before GRAP IV came into effect in which 23 entry points in Delhi witness 98 per cent of traffic flow from other neighbouring states to Delhi.
