Following the school van accident on Tuesday which led to the death of an eight-year-old boy in north Delhi’s Timarpur area, Delhi Traffic Police on Tuesday claimed to have launched a sustained action against such erring vehicles.
The data furnished by the Delhi Traffic Police has revealed that a total of 6,532 challans have been issued to school vans till November 15 2018. However the number of prosecution in the 2017 stood at 2,183 which was far less than the action taken by the law enforcing agency in the current year. In all, it can be seen that 2018 has seen a drastic increase school vans violating norms and regulations in the national Capital.
According to the official data, several violations including cases of not using seat belts have increased with 2090 cases registered compared to last year’s 869. In cases of over speeding 11 vehicles were charged compared to three cases of last year.
Delhi Police data shows that 291 cases of dangerous driving were registered in 2018 compared to 124 in 2018 and 17 persons were caught driving school vans while intoxicated in 2018 in contrast to 7 last year.
A staggering amount of 1247 challans were issued to school vans for violation road norms and indulging in driving without registration this year, which is a drastic increase from the 38 cases registered last year.
In 110 instances this year, Delhi Police have caught owners who allow under age drivers to drive school vans endangering the lives of children on board. Special Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Taj Hassan said, “Traffic Police keeps a tab on private vehicles ferrying school children and action is taken under the provisions of the Motor Vehicle Act that includes impounding of the vehicles and suspension of permits” adding that this is an issue and needs to be addressed..
Improper parking cases saw an increase of 882 cases from 497 last year and 396 cases were registered for violating of permit in contrast to 109 last year.
Overcrowding in school vans have drastically increased to 60 cases compared to 20 last year. 322 challans were also issued to private vans illegally used as commercial taxis and 53 school vans have been registered for driving without pollution certificate. Compared to 99 cases last year, 312 cases were of stop line crossing were reported this year.
Speaking to The Pioneer, Joint CP (Traffic) Alok Kumar said, “Delhi traffic officials have been holding regular meetings with the principals of schools all over the city in this regard and to ensure that school going children are provided with safe mode of transportation. In August of this year, we had highlighted the issue of unsafe vans being used to ferry school children and have asked them to ensure that only licensed vehicles will be allowed in this regard.”