Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) buses have been booked for over 4,000 'dangerous driving' cases this year. In a flagrant violation of traffic rules, 503 DTC bus drivers were arrested till July, this year. Maximum arrests have been made for driving way above the allowed speed-limit of 40 kmph.
Recently, two lives were claimed by over-speeding DTC buses — one at Bara Hindu Rao area on Friday and another at Shakarpur on Saturday. Noting the alarming trend, the Delhi Traffic Police have issued 171 permit suspension notices to DTC. "As intercepted, traffic police have issued notices to the Transport Department to suspend permits of 171 drivers for over-speeding," said Anil Shukla, Additional Commissioner of Police (traffic). He added that out of 503 drivers arrested for serious traffic violations, maximum arrests have been made for driving dangerously on the roads.
According to traffic police, 2,623 challans were issued till July 31 to DTC buses for violating the permit conditions. "Such violations include over-speeding, not following a particular lane while driving, not stopping at bus stops, stop-line crossing, yellow line violations and drivers found without uniform. Till July, 1,400 prosecutions were made for DTC drivers not wearing seat belts," he said. Though soft on impounding DTC buses, the police have confiscated 234 DTC buses this year.
Traffic police is also conducting several Discipline drives against DTC buses if they don't display the helpline number of the Corporation or the Transport Department or photo of the driver under the 'know your driver scheme.' "A total of 186 challans have been issued for not displaying helpline numbers and details of drivers on the buses. The offence is booked under the violation of permit conditions under Section 66/190 of the MV Act," he added.