4.5 lakh vehicle owners FINED for speeding during lockdown!

The lockdown in India started in April and after more than a month, it continues. While the major portion of the population continues to be under the lockdown, the authorities have allowed the movement of essential service providers and emergency services. This means that the roads remain mostly empty with only a few vehicles. Well, it can be tempting to speed on such open roads and that’s what most of the people who are allowed to be out on the roads are doing.

Delhi Police has released a statement saying that they have issued 4,54,438 challans for speeding alone. The challans have been issued during the lockdown period, which means that most of the fines have been issued due to the speeding on the relatively empty roads. Delhi is one of the most congested cities in India and during the peak hour traffic, the jams can last for hours.

The officials have said that the 4.54 lakh challans issued by them amount to around Rs 90 crore, which is massive, However, many motorists have complained that they have not been outside their homes during the lockdown period and the fines issued to them is wrong. Even the senior police officials have said that due to the empty roads, the number of speeding challans has increased in the city.

“People are overspeeding because the roads are empty with very little traffic. The speed guns that are installed on roads make a note when any vehicle runs above the permissible speed limit and a challan is automatically generated,” the officer said.

Delhi has multiple speeding cameras installed in the various locations of the city. These are automatic cameras that can detect the speed and click the picture of the car breaking the speed limit. The fine is then sent online to the violator and it can be paid through an online payment. These cameras are installed at the strategic locations and many of these cameras have been set-up by Maruti Suzuki. All the speed detecting cameras in Delhi also work at night.

However, many have complained against the fines and have said that they have received the challan notification without any image. This has created a lot of confusion among the people. A cab driver has told The Print that his vehicle has over 125 challans and it amounts to a total of Rs 3.5 lakhs! Well, speeding fines can accumulate and can become a big number over time. One needs to take care of the speed even on the empty roads.