In 2 years, driving licences of 2,000 people suspended due to traffic violations in Chandigarh: RLA data

According to the data by the Registering and Licensing Authority (RLA), while a total of 1,104 driving licences were suspended in 2022, as many as 680 licences were suspended in 2023. In the first three months this year, 171 driving licences have already been suspended. The maximum violations for which the driving licences were suspended were for without helmet driving and speeding.

In years 2022, 2023 and the first three months of 2024, the total number of driving licences that were suspended for “without helmet” violation was around 1,269 licenses, followed by 404 licences that were suspended due to speeding in two years and three months.

For the violation of speeding, a total of 286 driving licences were suspended in 2022, followed by 107 driving licences suspended in 2023 and for the first three months this year, 11 have already been suspended.

While in 2022 and 2023, as many as 689 and 457 people got their driving licences suspended respectively because they didn’t wear a helmet in Chandigarh, there are 123 people in the first three months of 2024 who have lost their licences for the same violation.

A senior official of the transport department stated that “the number of the licence suspension has still come down considerably as in years 2020 and 2021 there were 4,600 and 4,057 licenses that were suspended”.

In the category of drink-driving violation, 74 driving licences were suspended in 2023. In first three months of 2024, about 20 driving licences were suspended due to drink-driving.

According to the data by the RLA, “for use of mobile, 62 driving licences were suspended in 2022 which came down to 18 in year 2023 followed by 8 till date”.

The number of suspension of driving licences was more in years 2020 and 2021. In 2020, as many as 4,623 total driving licences were suspended while in 2021, a total of 4,057 driving licenses were suspended.

Cameras to check violations

Over 225 Intelligent Traffic Management System (ITMS) cameras under Chandigarh Smart City Limited are installed at 47 junctions. These cameras note traffic violations, and a challan is generated on the registration number of violators. The UT traffic police has taken over monitoring of the ITMS while the Chandigarh Smart City takes care of the upgradation of the system, like introducing more cameras.

The moment a commuter violates a traffic rule like he or she speeds the vehicle over and above the allowed speed limit or jumps red light or others, a challan is sent to his mobile number for the violation committed.

As per Section 19 of the Motor Vehicle Act, 1988, read with rule 21 of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules 1989, the authorities can suspend driving licence for a period of not less than three months.