The number of detected high beam violations in the city has fallen sharply since 2018, indicating a decrease in the traffic police's focus on violations that do not directly impact road user safety.
Bengaluru Traffic Police identified and penalised 7,588 cases of high beam violations in 2018, a statistic that suddenly fell to 1,280 and 1,354 in 2019 and 2020 respectively.
The subsequent years saw the number of detected violations fall further, as 727 cases were penalised by the traffic police in 2021, followed by 473 cases in 2022.
This drop in numbers does not necessarily translate to a fall in the number of violations committed, but merely a fall in how many were recorded and penalised by the traffic police.
High beam violations or dazzling headlight offences are penalised by traffic police personnel on the roads during night patrolling, as the ITMS cameras installed across 50 junctions in the city do not capture high beam violations as yet.
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M N Anucheth, Joint Commissioner of Police, Traffic, noted that the dip in numbers could be due to the shift to contactless enforcement methods. "We have been focusing on reducing the number of violations that have an impact on the safety of the road users, such as helmetless riding or driving without seatbelts, both through contact and contactless methods. Therefore, the focus on dazzling headlight violations might have come down," he said.
Taxi drivers Channamma and Shankaregowda highlighted the dangers of driving on single-lane roads when vehicles from the opposite direction have their high beams on. Channamma stated, "High beam headlights on highways may not pose a major safety risk due to high medians. However, they are blinding on main and arterial roads within the city limits, jeopardising everyone's safety."
Some of the highest number of violations over the years were detected on main roads in parts of the central business district (CBD) such as Malleswaram, Majestic, Rajajinagar, and Gandhi Nagar.
However, traffic police noted that it is nearly impossible to pinpoint high beams as directly contributing to fatal accidents, especially if other violations such as helmetless riding or driving without seatbelts are identified.