Rs 35 lakh fine realised from students driving two-wheelers

Cracking a whip on students zooming across streets of Patna riding two-wheelers on way to schools, the Patna police has collected around Rs 35 lakh as fine from violators of traffic rules during a special drive launched for the past ten days, a senior police officer said today.
Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG), Shalin, the man behind the campaign, told PTI that 25 school children, both boys and girls, were caught illegally driving two-wheelers to schools today.
Besides, 418 parents were caught from near schools dropping children on two-wheeler without wearing helmets, he said.
Altogether a penalty of Rs 54,000 was collected during the traffic drive today, Shalin said.

School students have been facing the heat of cops for the past ten days with policemen posted near prominent boys' and girls' schools to catch traffic rules violators.
Along with boys, many school girls riding two-wheelers were also caught and fines collected.

In addition to collecting a fine of Rs 1,000 from the students caught driving two-wheelers without license and helmet, their parents were also called and a fine of Rs 1,000 realised from parents for allowing the vehicle to be driven by a person who does not have a valid license under section 180 of the Motor Vehicle Act.

The DIG said a tragic incident in the state capital recently triggered him to order launch the special drive.
He said while on the way to Nalanda from the state capital, he spotted two school children lying in a pool of blood on a road some distance from a school near the toll plaza after being hit by a bus.
Since they were not wearing helmet the injury was serious, he said.
"I took the injured to nearby hospital and saved them," he said adding, after the incident "I decided this should be stopped for the future of the children."

The DIG appealed to parents to understand the danger of younger ones zooming through the streets of Patna without helmets and licences and stop handing them over their two-wheelers.