Cops punch 15,000 driving licences

KATHMANDU, NOV 04 -

Almost a year after the Metropolitan Traffic Police Division (MTPD) started punching holes in driving licences of drunk people behind the wheels, around 15,000 documents have been perforated so far.

The revelation comes as Dashain has just ended and people are in the mood to celebrate the Tihar festival that will last until Tuesday. It is during these festivals that people tend to drink more. The MTPD had launched the campaign on December 7 as part of its efforts to curb drunk driving. Data at the MTPD show that a total of 14,993 driving licences have been punched so far. The traffic police came up with this idea of punching the licences after the set fine of Rs 1,000 and a 20-minute lecture on drunk driving and its consequences failed to deter the habitual drinkers.

According to the Motor Vehicle and Transport Management Act (1993), a licence with a hole means the driver has violated a trafficrule. Once the number of holes reaches five, the licence is cancelled by default. The driver, then, will have to start the process of getting a new one.

SP Basant Kumar Pant, spokesperson at the MTPD, said people have now become more conscious. He said the police used to earlier punch around 250 licences a day on an average, while the number has now gone down to around half.

“The ones that are caught now are new licence holders and people who have just arrived in Kathmandu and are not aware of the punching rule,” Pant said.

The MTPD has also booked 143 individuals who were found to driving passenger vehicles after consuming alcohol.

The traffic police has collected over Rs 15.54 million in fines from drunk drivers only this fiscal.