Talking on a mobile phone while driving a vehicle is illegal in India and hundreds of fines are issued by the cops every day to the motorists violating the rule. To overcome this, many motorists halt their vehicles on the side of the road to finish their conversation on the phone. However, from now on, they will be fined for doing this.
Starting this February 2020, the Chandigarh Police will start issuing fines to any motorist who stops on the road to talk on the phone. The first fine will be of Rs 500, which will increase to Rs 1,000 from the second violation. The fines will be issued according to the new MV Act.
According to the senior police officials, the drivers stop the vehicles without thinking about the traffic behind them. Stopping suddenly on the road creates risks of accident and puts others on risk too. Also, stopping on the road creates congestion, especially near the intersections. Initially, the cops will focus on three of the busiest roads in the city including Dakshin Marg, Madhya Marg and Udyog Marg. All these roads witnessed the highest number of fatal accidents in 2019.
The police officer also said that the Chandigarh Traffic Police plans to bring down the number of fatal accidents to only 75 in 2020. To achieve the target, the cops will enforce rules strictly and bring in such drives.
Before the cops start to penalise the motorists, they will bring first spread awareness on the drive and will tell people what all can go wrong when they stop the vehicles on the roads suddenly to talk on the phone. We have seen many motorists stopping on the road suddenly without giving any indication to stop, and it can create chaos.
The Chandigarh Police officials, however, clarified that these kinds of fines will be imposed on the motorists who stop on the main roads. Initially, after testing the project on three major roads, we may get to see other major roads of the city to get included in the challan process. The motorists can stop to talk on the phone on the slip roads. There will be no such fine imposed on them on stopping on such roads.
The traffic police department of the city will also impose fines on the motorists who do not use the correct lane. Also, vehicles blocking the entrance to the slip roads will be fined. There are many motorists who want to go straight but take the left lane to get ahead of the traffic. They stop on the left-most lane to create congestion. Such initiatives are also expected to bring down traffic accidents in the city. Chandigarh cops are known for their strict enforcement of laws and with new laws in hand, we are sure that the city traffic will only become better in the future.
