Mangaluru: Vehicular population is growing rapidly in the coastal city for the past few years. So is the collection of penalty for traffic violations. In a span of eight months, the Mangaluru city traffic police have collected a whopping Rs 1.5crore as penalty, which is the highest in the last seven years. Of the total penalty, Rs 44 lakh comes from helmet-less riders followed by the penalty other traffic violations which stood at Rs 61.05  lakhs.

The city has four traffic police stations and east and west police stations have recorded maximum traffic violation cases. “Though people are aware about the hazards of not wearing helmet, they have developed a don’t care attitude. They wear helmet only when they see traffic cops on roads. The moment we disappear, the helmet comes to hand. The habit of riding without helmet is increasing as 85 new bikes hit the city roads everyday,” says Thilak Chandra, ACP (traffic).

Apart from bikers, the private buses are the major contributors for the hefty penalty collection by traffic police. The cases against buses range from allowing excess passengers, not issuing tickets to passenger, foot-board travel, using shrill horns espcially near schools and colleges, stopping buses at non-designated stops among others. The cases of drunken driving are also on the rise. In the last seven months, police have registered 1,270 cases. The courts will collect fine indrunken driving cases.

“Earlier, we used to check drunken cases only Saturdays and Sundays but now we started checks on Fridays also. We deal with drunken driving very strictly espeically after two recent accidents where drunk drivers claimed two lives near the Dr B R Ambedkar Circle in the city and in Panambur.