Hyderabad Traffic cops registered 1,656 cases of under-age driving this year

As many as 1,656 cases of under-age driving have been booked this year as part of the crackdown on minors driving vehicles, Hyderabad traffic police said on Thursday.

Anil Kumar, Additional Commissioner-Traffic, Hyderabad City, said cases have emerged of minors driving vehicles in colonies, surprisingly, with the consent of their parents.

"It is the responsibility of parents to ensure that their children are not driving any vehicles (minors). Keeping all the aspects in mind, we are continuing to check minor drivers this year too. Till now, we have booked 1,656 cases against minors who are driving vehicles. All the cases have been chargesheeted and the parents of minors have been fined by the court," said Anil.

"We are concentrating on colony roads to catch hold of the minors. This year, in total, more than Rs 20 lakh has been paid as fines by violators in minor driving cases," he added.

Talking about the drunken driving programme, Anil said around 9,800 cases have been booked, out of which around 2,030 cases have resulted in imprisonment or penalising of violators by the courts.

He further mentioned that from January 1 to April 30 this year, over Rs 2 crore has been paid as fine in the aforesaid cases. "We are counselling them (violators) at our traffic training institutes in front of their family members to ensure that they don't drive after drinking. We also make them pledge that they will not do the same again. Once done, we produce them in court. Till April 30, 2,032 violators have been sent to jail, and around 7,000 were fined by the courts," he added.

Anil also said that the traffic police is keeping a tab on habitual offenders and informing the same to courts. "So far, 588 licenses have been cancelled this year for differing periods of time," he added.