Thiruvananthapuram: The Zero Hour campaign by district police to bring down traffic offences was launched on Saturday, and over 750 motorists were caught for violating rules on the first day itself. A special one hour checking drive was conducted under all police station limits in the city from 9am to 10am on day one.‘’Our focus was on detecting offences that could either lead to accidents, such as speeding and driving without helmet or seat belt,” said city police commissioner K Sanjay Kumar Gurudin, who was seen on road checking motorists.Though all offenders were let off, they were asked to attend the traffic awareness class conducted by the city traffic police.‘’The ultimate aim is to inculcate a better road culture and thereby reduce accidents,” the commissioner said adding that majority of the offenders were two-wheeler riders sans helmet.Besides personnel of local stations, cops attached to city traffic police also took part in the drive. Assistant commissioners George Koshy (traffic, south) and Biji George (traffic, north) led the operations. The city traffic police caught as many as 114 motorists, of which 94 were motorcycle riders. They also caught four auto rickshaws, six cars, two trucks, one mini lorry, two pick-up rickshaws, two vans and three scooters.The Zero Hour special drive will continue every day with all police personnel in the city taking part in an intense vehicle checking for an hour.The commissioner said it was decided to reward public, who shared pictures and videos of traffic offences as well as other crimes with the police on real time through WhatsApp. This move is expected to give a fillip to the TC Vigil (Thiruvananthapuram Citizen Vigil) initiative, through which public can share information with police via the number 9497975000.‘We will choose three citizens every week for pointing out offences and a ‘Good Samaritan’ will be presented to them,” Gurudin said.

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