Holi 2013 proved luckier than the last fives ones for the Capital’s commuters as Delhi saw the least number of road accidents since 2007.
The Delhi Traffic Police was on its toes on Wednesday and caught 1,278 drunken drivers among a total of 10,339 prosecutions for various traffic violations on Holi day. According to Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Anil Shukla, eight people died in as many fatal accidents against 11 to 17 deaths every year between 2007 and 2012 on Holi. In the year 2012, 13 fatal accidents took place, killing 13 people.
Shukla said among the 10,339 prosecutions, 973 had been ticketed for triple riding, 3,967 were caught without their helmets and 465 car passengers were challaned for not using seat belts. “The strict traffic enforcement resulted in the lowest accidents in the city on the day of Holi,” he confirmed.
About 200 teams of traffic cops were stationed at different locations in the city to take action against drunken driving, over-speeding, driving without helmets and seat belt, and other traffic offences. As many as 610 motorcycles of the ‘Chase & Challan squad’ were also given the special task of prosecuting drunk drivers.
Joint checking against drunken driving was undertaken by Delhi Traffic Police, PCR cops and local staff of respective police stations. Additional staff from the Research and Development wing of Traffic and ministerial staff were also the part of the special drive.
“In a special drive against motorcyclists, the Zonal Officer (ZO) and dedicated staff on Chase & Challan squad prosecuted as many as 4,781 violators which included 1,149 riders who were found drunk. A total of 2,083 had not been wearing helmets and 615 were caught triple-riding. Of the total challans, 1,429 prosecutions were done by the Chase & Challan squad. ZOs of different circles also prosecuted 2,040 which included 745 for drunk driving and 1,234 for other violations,” Shukla said.
According to traffic police, the largest number of casualties on Holi was in the year 2006 when there were 20 fatal accidents in which 22 people were killed. “We will continue our efforts to make the city safe by continuous action against drunken driving and violations by commercial vehicles,” Shukla added.