Fri Mar 21 05:35:34 UTC 2025: ## Karnataka’s Lax Driving Licence Cancellation Sparks Safety Concerns

**Bengaluru, March 21, 2025** – A stark disparity between the number of driving licence suspensions and cancellations in Karnataka has raised serious concerns about the effectiveness of traffic enforcement. Over the past five years, Bengaluru’s Regional Transport Offices (RTOs) suspended 7,395 driving licences (DLs), yet only 16 were cancelled, according to data revealed in response to a Rajya Sabha query.

Nationally, the situation is equally alarming. Across India, a mere 1,525 driving licences were cancelled for traffic violations between 2020 and 2024, with Tamil Nadu accounting for half of that number. States like Delhi and West Bengal reported only three cancellations each, while even traffic-heavy Maharashtra recorded just 15.

In Karnataka, the 16 cancellations comprised two for driving without a permit and 14 for drunk driving – a minuscule number compared to the 23,620 drunk-driving cases registered in Bengaluru alone in 2024.

Traffic experts attribute this discrepancy to several factors. Appeals against suspensions, legal loopholes, influence at local police stations, and the difficulty in seizing licences from offenders who don’t carry them all contribute to the low cancellation rate. Furthermore, RTOs face significant workload constraints in processing the large number of licence suspensions referred to them by traffic police.

Professor M. N. Srihari, a traffic expert, emphasized that unless licence cancellation is enforced more rigorously, reckless driving and traffic violations will continue, endangering public safety. The low cancellation numbers highlight a significant enforcement gap and underscore the urgent need for stricter measures against habitual traffic offenders.

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