NEW DELHI: The Delhi Police issued 6,532 challans to school van and cab drivers for traffic violations this year, almost three times the number of challans issued last year.
An eight-year-old boy was killed and a minor girl injured after an autorickshaw hit their school van in north Delhi's Timarpur on Tuesday, police said.
In a similar incident in April, a seven-year-old girl was killed and 17 students injured when a milk tanker rammed into their private school van near Kanhaiya Nagar Metro Station in northwest Delhi.
A senior traffic police officer said, "The lives of children are precious. It has been observed that school vans and cabs are often driven rashly, risking the lives of children. We have held meetings in schools and requested the principals to create awareness among parents. We have also spoken to parent-teacher associations about it."
While the Delhi Traffic Police issued 6,532 challans this year till November 15, in the same period last year 2,183 challans were issued.
As many as 2,090 challans were issued to drivers for not using seat belts as opposed to 869 last year.
As many as 882 vehicles were challaned for improper parking as opposed to 497 vehicles getting challaned last year.
Police said 291 drivers were prosecuted for dangerous driving, while 124 were prosecuted for the same last year.
According to the police, 396 vehicles were challaned for permit violations this year, in comparison 109 such prosecutions were made last year.
Seventeen drivers were prosecuted for drunk driving in 2018, while seven were prosecuted for the same offence last year.
In 2017, no challans were issued for playing music while driving, for having pressure horns, stopping without bus stop, carrying goods in passenger vehicles, using private vehicles as taxis and smoking while driving. However, this year saw prosecutions under these offences.
In July, the Delhi government had issued fresh guidelines to schools for ensuring students' safety, with a special focus on the security of pupils travelling to schools by private vans.
Early in July, the Delhi government had directed all schools to discourage parents from hiring private vans to ferry their wards, claiming most of the vehicle operators were illegal and that they posed a threat to the lives of children. The schools were asked to maintain a register about children traveling in private vans.
Further, the school principals had been asked to conduct meetings with parents every six months to discuss the safety of children in private vehicles.
However preventive measures notwithstanding, the police said parents choose private vans and cabs over regular school-registered buses as they are "inexpensive options".
