Mangalore City police henceforth will begin registering FIRs against traffic violations under Section 281 (reckless driving) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. The police were only imposing penalties for traffic violations to make city bus drivers fall in line with traffic rules.

Mangalore Police Commissioner Anupam Agrawal said that despite enlightening city bus drivers and conductors to follow traffic rules, violations continue to rise. Henceforth, in case of traffic violations by private city bus, after registering the FIRs, the police will refer them to the court. The new initiative is to warn city bus drivers of the consequences they will face if they continue to violate traffic rules.

As many as 1,527 violations were reported in Mangalore so far this year. In the drive held a week ago, a total of 489 traffic violations were reported. Of 1,527 cases of violations, 643 were related to carrying excess passengers. There are 316 cases pertaining to obstructing traffic and 163 cases belonged to shrill horn use. The Police Commissioner said 138 cases were related to footboard travelling. In the remaining cases, 68 were related to not issuing tickets, 65 for violating lane discipline, 30 for reckless driving, 25 each for ‘no stop pickup’ and ‘not wearing uniform’, 18 for traffic signal jumping, seven for high beam light use and five for operating without/defective number plate.