Cops plan to curb accident menace

The increasing cases of road accidents in the Capital have left more than 1,800 people dead and injured over 43,000 in the past one year. 

To curb the accidents, the cops and the transport department have got together and started taking finger-prints of all applicants seeking new driving licenses. The procedure would also be applicable for those who want to renew their license from the transport department.

“We can match the fingerprints in accident cases with the fingerprints available on the steering wheel of the driver,” said HPS Virk, deputy commissioner of police (Traffic).

He added that though the traffic department took thumb impressions of license holders earlier, the data was not maintained to solve accident cases. “It is for the first time that we would maintain records of the fingerprints,” added Virk.

In the past four years, the traffic menace has increased that more than 4,000 people, mostly pedestrians, have lost their lives.

“The drivers had fled the crime seen in most of these cases and we found it difficult to prove that accident case. The accused normally gets a bail easily and it takes a lot of time to prove the case in the court,” he added.

The driving license applicants who have gone through the process recently appreciated the move of the cops and hoped this would bring down the accident cases.

There are over 50 lakh vehicles in the capital while another 8 lakh vehicles enter Delhi everyday from nearby satellite towns of Gurgaon, Ghaziabad, Noida, Greater Noida and Faridabad.