With the overcrowded cities of India, the increasing number of cars and shrinking road space causes massive jams on a daily basis. Bangalore is one such city that faces choked roads and slow moving traffic. With the limited space on the roads, the Bengaluru Traffic Police (BTP) has come up with a new plan, which will ensure decongestion of the roads.
According to the new plan as reported on Bangalore Mirror, the traffic police department in Bangalore will start issuing fines to owners of vehicles who abandon it on the public roads. Owners who leave their broken-down vehicle on the public road will have to pay a fine of Rs 50 per hour. That comes out to be Rs 1,200 per day or a massive Rs 36,000 per month. The traffic police will levy the fine after calculating the total number of hours.
There are many vehicles that can break-down on the road and if it happens during the rush hour, the traffic situation worsens. The new fine will encourage the owners to tow their vehicle to a local garage immediately to keep the traffic flowing on the roads. Any parked vehicle is a huge hindrance in the smooth movement of traffic. This will also encourage the owners of the vehicle to keep their cars in top-notch condition. There are many countries that levy breakdown charges on car owners. This is to make sure that the owner who is bringing the car on the road keep it in the top-notch condition so that it does not break down mid-way.
Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) P Harishekaran said,
“A lot of vehicles which are not in working condition are left on the main roads. These vehicles should be immediately sent to a garage or sold to scrap dealers if they can’t be repaired. Leaving these vehicles in public places will cause obstruction to the movement of traffic. Taking this into consideration, we have started a drive against abandoned vehicles and have started towing them away after sending them several notices. From now on we are planning to send them a notice asking them to pay Rs 50 on an hourly basis,”
The new rule is applicable to all kinds of vehicles. It includes government vehicles, BMTC buses, BBMP buses and even the trucks. The traffic police said that the majority of vehicles that are towed by the traffic police in the city are abandoned vehicles that are of no use to the owners. Implementing such a fine will ensure that no vehicle is left unattended on the public roads, which affects the traffic movement.
It should be noted that if the police decide to tow away the vehicle, an additional towing charge will be added to the overall per hour-based fine to the owner. It is according to section 201 of the Motor Vehicles Act. Since the Bangalore Police has already started their drive, we can expect to see the cops issuing such fines to the owners in the coming days.
Also Read: 36,000 rupees fine/month for abandoning your car: Police Officials