Kathmandu, January 19
Traffic police have recommended suspension of driving licence of 86 drivers to the Department of Transport Management after they were caught violating traffic rules for the sixth time in Kathmandu valley. Sixty frequent offenders had faced suspension of their licence last month.
According to section 60 of Motor Vehicle and Transport Management Act-1993, if a driver or rider violates traffic rules more than five times, the DoTM may suspend the driving licence of such drivers in the sixth instance on the basis of the number of holes punched in the licence, as recommended by traffic police. Of the 86 people facing suspension of their licence, one rider was found to have violated traffic rules 26 times, as per the records maintained in Kathmandu Valley Traffic Police Office.
Senior Superintendent of Police Rajendra Prasad Bhatta, spokesperson at KVTPO, said it had recommended that the DoTM suspend the licence of drivers who violated traffic rules more than five times. Traffic cops punch a hole on the bottom left corner of the licence for each offence.
Traffic cops armed with communication sets, GoPro cameras, surveillance vehicles and breathalysers have fanned out across the valley, with major focus on busy intersections to curb traffic rule violations.
Other common forms of traffic rule violations include disregard for traffic signals, use of mobile phone while driving, parking vehicles in no-parking zones, seat belt infraction, mechanical modification of bikes, overloading vehicles, overtaking from wrong side of the road and violation of one-way traffic rule. On an average, 1,200 drivers and riders are caught violating traffic rules in the valley on a daily basis.
The KVTPO warned that many violations go unregistered as motorists and bikers tend to breach rules in the absence of on-duty traffic police personnel in uniform. Traffic police officials claimed that it could be a rare thing to find a motorist or a biker in the valley who has not been punished by the law enforcement agency for violating rules.
A version of this article appears in the print on January 20, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
