Mumbai police drive against vehicles without parking lights

MUMBAI: After successfully curbing drunken driving and reducing instances of dangerous driving in order to increase road safety, the city police has now started taking action on vehicles without parking lights.

Action has already been taken against 1,635 motorists, over 70 per cent of them driving heavy vehicles, in the drive started two days ago, which will continue.

A senior officer from the department said the drive is being carried out at all the five entry-exit points to the city between 7-11pm when heavy vehicles tend to move.

Under the drive, a fine of Rs 100 is taken from the motorists under the provisions of the Motor Vehicle Act. "We can also suspend their license if they are found guilty of the same offence on a later date," said the officer.

Following several instances of fatal accidents due to drunken driving, the city police had embarked on a drive against drunken and rash driving on June 20.

Over 8,500 motorists have been booked for drunken driving since the drive began while 1,704 of them have been sentenced to jail terms. Similarly, 39 motorists, including four found talking on cellphone while driving, were imprisoned for dangerous driving.