Among the many ill-practices that India has adopted when it comes to traffic, riding or driving on the wrong side of the road is perhaps the most. Now reports on TNN suggest that the Regional Transport Office (RTO) in Ahmedabad has decided that they will black-list all offenders caught twice driving against the flow of traffic, this includes crossing the double yellow line on a dual carriageway. The operation will be carried out between the Traffic Police and the RTO, with stricter action on every offence.
In the first instance of driving against the traffic, offenders that are caught will have an FIR lodged against them and their papers will be sent to the RTO, where authorities will push for the license in question to be suspended for anything between three to six months. Which is harsh by any means, but, if the same offender is caught again, his driving license will be cancelled and the person in question will be blacklisted by the RTO meaning that he cannot apply for a license any time in the near future.
Earlier, neither the traffic police nor the RTO could cancel a driving license unless the offender was fined for breaking the rules at least five times. However, new amendments to the traffic laws, the police can recommend the RTO to cancel the license if the rule violator is caught on two separate offences. Police in Gujarat has now said that they will be taking up the cause of people who break the direction of traffic, and have already cancelled 7 driving licenses and will further intensify their drive in the near future.
As of now, this applies only to Gujarat, specifically Ahmedabad, but the rest of the country can easily take a cue from them. The fear of losing one’s license or livelihood in some cases might be the right kind of deterrent!
Source: TNN
