Check your traffic violations on the Karnataka state police website or app if you don’t want to end up in court and make not breaking rules your priority! This is the advice from Bengaluru traffic police officials, amid the sharp rise in the number of traffic violators and highest collection of fines in a decade.
The Bengaluru traffic police has collected a whopping Rs 185 crore last year alone.
2,681 VEHICLES HAVE DUES OVER RS 50,000 THRESHOLD
“It is the duty of every driver to regularly check if they have any violations, which have been captured by our Artificial Intelligence (AI) cameras. The maximum violations are of helmetless driving or jumping signals. When the rider or driver does this, they should also be ready to pay the fine for breaking the rule," said Dr Anil Purohit, Inspector, Traffic Management Centre, Bengaluru.
M N Anucheth, Joint Commissioner Traffic, Bengaluru, who has been making significant strides using AI to alleviate traffic congestion as well as streamline traffic violation system in the city, said it was important for every vehicle owner to ensure he/she drives safely, follows the rules, and if they break them, own up and pay the fine.
Of late, the Bengaluru traffic police has intensified its drive to collect pending fines from traffic violators, after discovering that close to 2,681 vehicles in Bengaluru have dues that are over the Rs 50,000 threshold.
“Failing to comply will result in charges being filed against them. The offenders will then have to answer in court as summons would be served to repeat offenders. These cases booked under the Motor Vehicles Act can be charge-sheeted if the fine is not paid," said Anucheth.
Anucheth highlighted another common issue — vehicles with substantial fines being transferred to new owners without clearing the outstanding dues. In order to address this, the police are identifying such cases and sending notices to owners, urging them to settle their pending fines or get summoned to court.
NUMBERSPEAK
If you compare fine collection for the past 10 years, Bengaluru has only seen a sharp rise in the graph. Officials explain that this can also be attributed to the increase in contactless booking using AI cameras across the city. Let’s take the data for the past decade. In 2015, the traffic department collected Rs 70,44,38,276 as fine. Five years later, in 2020, which was during the period of the pandemic, Rs 99,57,33,010 was collected as fine.
Since 2021, as the drive towards contactless traffic policing and use of AI began, the fine collection saw a sharp jump. In 2021, fines worth Rs 140,32,90,775 were collected, followed by Rs 179,76,74,090 in 2022, and finally in 2023, a whopping Rs 185,14,55,885. These numbers do not include those who have not cleared their pending dues.
In January this year alone, the traffic police has collected Rs 4,34,05,100 as fine, and the highest violations have been helmetless driving, officials told News18.
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