KOLKATA: For accidents caused by rash driving and speeding, the police have decided to submit charge sheet for all FIRs and seek the maximum punishment of imprisonment for six months for the accused.This major decision, Lalbazar , the city police headquarters, said, was aimed at reining in speed demons and making motorists pay for committing traffic offences. In fact, the Kolkata traffic police had started registering FIRs for speeding and dangerous driving back in June but they had not, so far, filed any charge sheet. But Sunday’s accident, in which a bus and a car had a head-on collision at the Mayo Road-Dufferin Road crossing, following which the car driver was killed and four students were injured , and the slew of accidents that took place on Monday, when two persons were killed and several injured, prompted the police to take the strict measure of filing charge sheets and seeking six months’ jail . The cases would be pursued under Section 279 of IPC and Section 184 of Motor Vehicles Act, which would enable the police to suspend licences of offenders. Cops said putting an offender behind bars, or at least seeking such a punishment, was likely to make motorists more careful.Traffic police have already lodged FIRs against 45 drivers, who have the maximum number of speeding cases against them in the past year, and several of their licenses have been cancelled. Around 97 had their licenses cancelled for being involved in fatal accidents.“Since 2017, we have installed 40 speed guns across the city. Another 100 will be added, for which tender has been invited. But even after challans are issued, only a few pay the fines or check if they have violated rules. We want to change this aloofness. We went through a year’s record and identified the worst offenders — some with over 20 cases, but most with something between 12 and 18 cases,” said an officer, pointing out that besides private vehicle drivers, commercial vehicle drivers were being especially monitored. “Seizing a speed offender’s vehicle is important — it acts as the biggest deterrent,” said another officer.An officer at Lalbazar pointed out that suspending a motorist’s licence for rash driving was not mandatory. The penalty was left to the discretion of the prosecuting officer. The licence might be suspended even if rash or dangerous driving had not caused death, he said. Citing examples, he said a motorist had his licence suspended recently after being prosecuted for speeding on Maa flyover after he lost control of the vehicle that landed on the other flank on hitting the divider. In another accident, a doctor driving a vehicle had hit a constable, though mildly, from behind on Shakespeare Sarani. His licence was also suspended.But the decidion for the chargesheet and jail has drawn criticism from motorists. “I don’t get texts about traffic violations. Also, faulty speed cameras are used,” alleged Kalyan Majumdar, a resident of Kasba Rathtala. Cops said such allegations held little ground after changes in issuing challans in the past year. “We use camera shots as evidence,” said an officer.

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