KOCHI: The Motor Vehicles' Department has seized driving licences of 191 people who reportedly indulged in blatant violation of traffic rules, in Ernakulam district. Seventy-two licences of the 191 were suspended.

Drive to check accidents

This follows the department's ongoing drive to check accidents on the accident-prone Aroor-Palakkad stretch of NH 47. The fortnight-long drive started on August 16, following the direction issued by Transport Commissioner Ramesh Chandra Bhanu. This was in the wake of a spurt in accidents in the sector, especially the narrow Angamaly-Palakkad stretch.

The one hundred and ninety one drivers who were booked for serious offences were driving different types of vehicles, from two-wheelers to lorries. Over 70 licences were impounded in the first few days of the operation.

As there has been a noticeable fall in the number of accidents reported in traffic and local police stations in the past month, the drive has been extended by another month. The Ernakulam Regional Transport Officer M.N. Prabhakaran provided statistics to prove that there was a fall in the number of accidents from August 16 to 31 as compared to the same period the previous year.

Analysing statistics

"MVD personnel were sent to collect statistics from police stations in Ernakulam. Sixty-one accident cases had been registered in the Edapally Traffic Police Station from August 16 to 31 in 2005. This fell to 57 this year. In Chengamanad, accidents fell from 14 to 11 and in Angamaly, from 18 to 12. But Aluva saw an increase in accidents, from 15 to 23, mainly because of the increase in two-wheeler accidents during the rain. We are looking into the reasons for the increase in accidents in this area," he said.

Deputy Transport Commissioner (Thrissur) has been placed in charge of coordinating the efforts of 30 MVD personnel who will be on the field, round the clock. The team, comprising assistant motor vehicle inspectors (AMVIs) and motor vehicle inspectors (MVIs), have been divided into four groups. They are armed with speed radars and breath analysers.

The team members were imparted training on handling speed radars and breath analysers. They can get printouts from the radar to show that a vehicle was over speeding.

The Department embarked on the drive on finding that imposing fines was ineffective in checking rash driving.

Traffic offenders

The MVD personnel have been focusing on those indulging in rash and negligent driving, over speeding, drunken driving, overtaking through the left side, dangerous overtaking, violating lane-discipline, overloading, using high beams, parking in a way obstructing movement of other vehicles and crossing yellow lines.

Ill-maintained vehicles too were being brought to book.

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