Siddaramaiah's official car booked for 7 traffic violations, fines paid under discount scheme

Bengaluru: The official Toyota Fortuner car used by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has been found to be in violation of traffic rules on seven separate occasions since the beginning of 2024, as captured by cameras of the Intelligent Traffic Management System (ITMS) across the city. According to sources in the traffic police department, the accumulated fines for all seven violations have now been paid.

Six of the seven violations were for the Chief Minister not wearing a seat belt while travelling in the front seat of the vehicle. These violations were recorded at various key junctions in the city, with the fines settled at Rs 2,500, a figure calculated after applying the state government's recent 50 per cent discount on traffic penalties.

The series of seat belt violations began on January 24, 2024, when the car was caught on camera near the Leela Palace junction on Old Airport Road. Further instances of the seat belt rule being flouted were registered at the same junction in February and August, at the Chandrika Hotel junction in March, and at both Sivananda Circle and Dr Rajkumar junctions in August.

In addition to the seat belt infractions, the Chief Minister's car was also recorded by the ITMS for a speeding violation on July 9 along the Kempegowda International Airport Express Corridor.

An official from the traffic police department confirmed that the fine on the vehicle has since been cleared.