- Offence: Pillion-rider without helmet
- Where: Elgin Road-Asutosh Mukherjee Road crossing
- Time: 3.01pm on Wednesday
- What the rule says: Section 297 of the West Bengal Motor Vehicles Rules states that every person on a bike shall, while in a public place, wear a protective headgear of such description as may be specified by the state government.
- Penalty: Rs 100 for first offence; Rs 300 for each subsequent one
- Offence: Not wearing seatbelts while driving
- Where: Rashbehari Avenue-SP Mukherjee Road crossing
- Time: 5.05pm on Wednesday
- What the rule says: Section 138(3) of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules states: “In a motor vehicle, in which seat belts have been provided, it shall be ensured that the driver, and the person seated in the front or the persons occupying front facing rear seats, as the case may be, wear the seat belts while the vehicle is in motion.”
- Penalty: Rs 100 for first offence; Rs 300 for each subsequent one
- Offence: Parking vehicles at prohibited places
- Where: Lord Sinha Road
- Time: 3.32pm on Wednesday
- What the rule says: Section 286(1) of the West Bengal Motor Vehicles Rules states: “If any motor vehicle is allowed to stand in any place other than a duly appointed parking place in such a way as to cause undue obstruction to traffic or danger to any person, any police officer may forthwith cause the vehicle to be moved under its own power or otherwise to the nearest place where the vehicle will not cause undue obstruction or danger.”
- Penalty: Rs 100. If the vehicle gets towed, the owner has to pay the cost. If the vehicle is clamped, the owner has to pay the clamping cost at the rate of Rs 50 an hour.
- Offence: Violating “No Entry” rule
- Where: Rainey Park, off Ballygunge Circular Road
- Time: 4.11pm on Wednesday
- Penal section: 194(1) of the West Bengal Motor Vehicles Rules
- Penalty: Rs 2,000 for first offence; Rs 3,000 for second offence; Rs 5,000 for each subsequent offence
- Offence: Parking on footpath
- Where: CR Avenue-MG Road crossing
- Time: 4.01pm on Tuesday
- What the rule says: Section 291(1) of West Bengal Motor Vehicles Rules says: “Where any road or street is provided with footpaths, or tracks reserved for cycle or specified classes of other traffic, no person shall, save with the consent of a Police Officer in uniform, drive, park or abandon any motor vehicle on any such footpath or track.”
- Penalty: Rs 100. If the vehicle gets towed, the owner has to pay the cost. If the vehicle is clamped, the owner has to pay the clamping cost at the rate of Rs 50 an hour.
“No one is above law. Every policeman must abide by traffic rules, otherwise it would be difficult for them to enforce the rules,” a retired additional commissioner of Calcutta police said. “True policemen at times have to park their cars while on duty in no-parking zones for want of parking space, but they are also guilty of other violations — such as not wearing helmets and ignoring traffic signals — for which there can’t be any valid explanations.”
Pictures by Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya
