While many have ridiculed the sharp increase in traffic fines, figures released by Maharashtra State Highway Police on traffic violations across the state sheds light on the need of stringent laws and their strict enforcement. In the first four months of this year, the city recorded a total of 1,45,459 cases of traffic violation. Of the around 1.45 lakh violators, only one faced licence suspension. Surprisingly, Navi Mumbai recorded 8,830 cases of traffic violation in the corresponding period, while the number of violators facing licence suspension stands at 2,369. Meanwhile, Thane recorded 19,000 cases of traffic violations, while 1,557 licences were suspended. This reveals that despite the enforcement of stringent traffic rules, action failed to follow the suit. Of the total 1.45 lakh cases, licence of only one violator was suspended by the Regional Transport Office (RTO) for using a mobile phone while driving, stated the statistics. As per statistics, Mumbai's share of traffic violation topped all other 47 districts which did not cross the five-figure mark. At 1.45 lakhs, Mumbai constituted for nearly half of the total 3,30,847 violations in the state. A total of 38,542 cases of traffic violations were reported in Pimpri-Chinchwad and 25,309 in Nagpur city, said the traffic police officials. A senior state highway police official said, the traffic violations are on the rise, but violators cannot dodge penalty thanks to the e-challan system. Explaining further, the official said, in this system, the violator is sent an e-challan after they are caught in the act by the CCTV cameras installed with the automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) system. Now the question arises, will amendments to the Motor Vehicle Act enhancing the penalties for traffic violations and erring drivers pave way for better compliance? While many have called it 'too harsh', experts hope that it will discipline traffic violators. "For many years now, people have been taking traffic rules lightly. They have been breaching every traffic rule written on rule book without hesitation. You will find many two-wheelers breaching traffic signals, autos ferrying more than permissible and drivers of four-wheeler speaking over mobile phones while driving," said Subhash Gupta, a transport expert. All of this should stop. The only way to instil fear is to have an exponential hike in fines for breaching traffic rules," he added.

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