WP nets over Rs. 370.5 m in traffic fines

by Ranil WEJEYAPALA

The Traffic Police in the Western Province has contributed Rs. 370.5 millions to State coffers in spot fines and court fines imposed on traffic offenders from July 1, 2010 to March 15, 2011 due to strict enforcement of traffics laws, DIG Traffic Asoka Wijethilake told the Sunday Observer.

He said from February 12, 2011 to March 1 alone the Traffic Police in the Western Province had made 62,611 detections.

The DIG said the Traffic Police commenced enforcing traffic laws strictly from July last year when the country returned to normalcy as road accidents were on the rise due to road rules being ignored by the motorists and pedestrians.

"We are not enforcing new traffic laws but the traffic laws which were not enforced properly due to the conflict in the country,", he added.

He said the Traffic Police made detections on driving unregistered vehicles, reckless and negligent driving, drunken driving, driving vehicles with tinted glasses, using mobile phones while driving, excessive speeding, blocking smooth flow of traffic and other offences.

"Due to the strict enforcement of traffic laws the number of road accidents and the road rule violating have also dropped considerably.

He pointed out that drunken driving has dropped drastically due to strict enforcement of laws.

In February the Traffic Police in the Western Province had detected 171 cases of drunken driving whereas 788 and 1019 detections were made in October and November last year.

"This shows that drivers are more concerned with their driving habits following the strict enforcement of the traffic laws with sole intention of reducing the number of road accidents and inculcating disciplined driving habits among motorists and riders," he added.

"We are making detections round the clock and surprise traffic operations are being launched to track traffic offenders on a daily basis," he added.