From four lakh in 2017, traffic offences cross five lakh in six months of 2018 in Ahmedabad

This is one statistic no Amdavadi would be proud of. Even as Ahmedabad police have gone on an overdrive to crack down on traffic violations, Ahmedabad city reported 25% more traffic-related offences in the first half of 2018 than in the whole of 2017, police data shows.

The data shows that city police registered 4 lakh cases of traffic violations in 2017. However, the number of offences crossed a staggering 5 lakh in the first six months of 2018 itself.

Offences related to dangerous driving, driving sans helmet and not using seatbelts rose by 70-80% in the first half of the current year as compared with the whole of last year.

According to the data, cases of jumping signals, talking on phone while driving, and overspeeding were also up sharply.

Officials said that fine of Rs5 crore was collected from the offenders in 2017, but the amount has already crossed Rs5.25 crore in the first six months of 2018.

Neerja Gotru, special commissioner (traffic), Ahmed-abad, attributed the rise in registered traffic offences to drives conducted by the police department.

"We have stepped up periodic drives for better compliance with traffic rules in the city since the start of this year. More staff have been deployed to catch offenders and to enforce traffic rules. The drive against traffic violations will be intensified in the coming days," she said.