24K challans issued for seat belt violation in Gurugram

Despite repeated awareness drives being carried out, traffic violations continue unabated in Gurugram. According to the traffic police, over 24,000 people have been challaned for not wearing seat belts so far.

From January 1 to November 30, the police issued a Rs 2.41 crore fine to the defaulters, who were caught for not wearing a seat belt. Wearing a seat belt is crucial to save lives in case a fatal accident takes place. However, sadly people don’t understand the same. In majority of the accidents, we see that victims were driving without a seat belt. They rely on air bag guarantees, but in many cases, the bags do not open. A seat belt reduces the impact and saves lives,” said Virender Vij, DCP (Traffic).

These challans have been issued to four-wheeler drivers or those sitting in the front. Though the Transport Ministry has already mandated seat belts even for those sitting in the back and all cars are now equipped with same, the execution is yet to be seen in Delhi-NCR.

“Till now, people are careless about wearing these seat belts on when sitting on the front seats. What can you expect from them while sitting in back? The majority of people admit that they wear these belts to avoid the belt alarms of their cars. We see maximum number of violations on highway and flyovers, which are key accident prone areas,” said Vij. It may be noted that the Gurugram traffic police organised 553 awareness programmes on road safety traffic rules throughout this year. Most of these were held in schools and colleges.

The police, meanwhile, have appealed to public to not let their children, who are underage, drive vehicles. Besides, only two people should ride on a two wheeler, use a helmet.