Over 40,000 motorists penalised by Traffic Police in surprise 12-hour crackdown in Mumbai:

In a special 12-hour drive conducted on Friday, the Mumbai Traffic Police penalised over 40,000 errant motorists for a wide range of traffic-related violations. More than 2,000 police personnel were pressed into service for the surprise drive, and the action will be repeated in the days to come.

“The drive was launched in order to prevent large scale road traffic regulations violations by vehicle drivers and to bring road safety through effective enforcement,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police Raj Tilak Roushan, Mumbai Traffic Police.

The drive was launched at 9 a.m. on Friday and went on till 9 p.m. Apart from 1,126 Traffic Police personnel, 759 city police personnel and 212 Local Arms personnel were also pressed into service. The Local Arms division is a supplementary branch that provides additional manpower to regular divisions as and when needed.

Officials said that riding two-wheelers without helmets topped the charts in terms of a number of cases in the 12 hours of the campaign, with a total of 10,338 cases being registered all over the



city.

According to official statistics released by the police, the highest number of instances of helmetless riding were recorded in the eastern suburbs, with 3,204 cases being registered. The western suburbs came a close second with 3,028 cases.

Simultaneously, the police also penalised offenders for parking their vehicles in designated no parking zones, honking in silence zones, riding bikes with modified silencers and overspeeding. Actions were also taken against food delivery executives and offenders near railway stations.

“Action against food delivery drivers was taken primarily for driving on the wrong side of the road, rash driving and riding two-wheelers without helmets. Around railway station premises, we focused on autorickshaw and taxi drivers who were not adhering to queues or refusing fares,” Roushan said.

“This time, we got additional manpower from Local Arms which helped a lot in enforcing the drive. The same shall be used in future campaigns as well so that we can also keep some of our personnel focused on day to day traffic management,” said Roushan.