HYDERABAD: Speaking over mobile phones while driving is a vice that many are finding difficult to get over without realizing the dangers involved in it. Every day, scores of people are dying in road accidents because of using cell phones while driving. In their drive against mobile phone users while driving, the Cyberabad traffic police booked as many as 7,082 cases of this nature between January and June this year.

The violators were identified from the footage of CCTV cameras installed at all junctions. All of them were slapped with an e-challan for Rs 1,000. Police have been seizing vehicles when they found that the drivers were on a phone call while driving. Special drives were frequently conducted to crack down on this traffic violation. The traffic police are also filing chargesheets on several occasions to deter people from indulging in this habit. The courts are imposing fine from Rs 2,000 to 5000 and even sentencing habitual violators with a two-day imprisonment in some cases.

The traffic police have focused on ‘cell-phone use while driving’ in the wake of a recent accident that took place under Rajendranagar police limits. In that incident, the driver of a lorry went for a u-turn while speaking on his mobile phone not caring for the motorist coming from behind. As there was no time for the motorist to apply brakes, he rammed into the lorry and lost his life. In a nutshell, the motorist from behind had to pay with his life for the negligence of the lorry driver.

More than 60 such road accidents have taken place in the last six months under the Cyberabad Police Commissionerate limits. Traffic police are sensitizing the people on avoiding cell-phone driving with campaigns through social media and voice-recorded messages at all the junctions.

"Speaking over a cell phone while driving causes accidents. It does not affect just your life but also the lives of others. If it is an emergency, you can pull aside and continue with the phone conversation. Then, there will be a chance of road accidents decreasing. We are taking stringent action against traffic violators," Cyberabad traffic police DCP Vijay Kumar said.