Kolkata: When the cops warned of midnight raids against traffic violators on Dec 31 and Jan 1, and possible time in police custody, through a tongue-in-cheek ad on Wednesday, there was some homework behind it. The city recorded around 56,000 traffic violations from Dec 24 to 30, with around 8,000 cases recorded each day. The same period saw around 298 cases of drink driving, said an officer. Sources said that 24-30 cases of drink driving were reported even during the extremely cold nights, with 73 cases reported on Dec 24 and another 77 on Christmas Day.
The numbers, though, are lower than last year, when 1.1 lakh cases were reported in the same period, but significantly higher than the 40,000 average in the 2019-23 period.
Cops are setting up around 75 nakas across the city. The biggest concern for cops, though, has been the mix of rash and negligent driving along with signal violations, with the two together constituting around 25% of all traffic violations. Two-wheelers have yet again emerged as the worst violators.
In the past 2 days, drink driving and dangerous driving cases post 9 pm were almost equal to cases of helmet-less riding or triple riding. Between Dec 28 and 30, the city reportedly witnessed over 100 cases of dangerous driving and 60 cases of drink driving, compared to 147 cases of helmet-less riding and 89 cases of triple riding.
Overall, smooth traffic and pedestrian flow will top Kolkata Police's priority list on the first day of the new year.