Total challans amount to Rs 10 cr as traffic violations go up

Union territory Chandigarh has seen a steep rise in the number of traffic challans issued this year, with around Rs 10 crore being collected due to traffic violations.
Between January and October this year, more than 2.56 lakh offenders have been challaned, which is nearly 30,000 more than that of last year's, a senior official of the Chandigarh traffic police said.
An amount of around Rs 10 crore has been collected from the traffic challans this year so far, he said, adding, the amount is a significant jump from over Rs 7.3 crore realised from the challans during the first ten months last year.

Official said that the most common offence committed by motorists here is red light signal jumping, with over 59,000 challans already issued so far this year in this connection. This has recorded a significant jump by over 25,000 challans for the same offence committed in the corresponding period in 2013.
Between January-October this year, 37,634 challans have been issued to violators who were found not wearing safety helmets, 14,972 for not wearing seat belts, 25,450 for zebra crossing violations, 4,264 for using mobile phone while driving, 22,264 for over speeding, 4,039 for drunken driving, 380 for smoking while driving and 5,273 for not fixing high-security registration number plates, the official said.

Other violations for which the challans issued were more in number than last year include usage of pressure horns, using black film/curtain, using unauthorised red/blue beacon light, illegal parking and wrong side driving, he said.

A traffic department official said that nearly 9 lakh vehicles of different categories are registered in Chandigarh, which has a population of nearly 11 lakh. About 300 new vehicles are registered in the city daily, he added.
The official said, the number of vehicles which enter the city daily on an average is between 65,000-1,00,000.
With Chandigarh being the common capital of both Punjab and Haryana, 40,000-50,000 vehicles of the employees are also parked here on daily basis, he said.

Moreover, majority of the people here use personal means of transport over public transport, adding to the traffic congestion, besides parking problems.
The official said that the traffic police is doing its bit to create awareness among the public on following traffic rules.