Bengaluru has witnessed a sharp rise in driving on footpaths, with 12,032 cases booked in just the first five months of 2026. The annual average for the past six years has been 14,827 cases.

In 2025, cases rose by 11.76%, with 19,000 from 17,000 in 2024. Based on the current trend, the Bengaluru Traffic Police (BTP) had been expecting an approximate 42% increase in cases over 2025.

However, the BTP now expects the increase to exceed 50% as it plans a focused crackdown following recent directions by Greater Bengaluru Development Minister Krishna Byre Gowda.

Footpath parking

While Mr. Gowda spoke extensively about driving on footpaths, data shows that footpath parking has also been a menace and is even more rampant than other violations.

According to ASTraM data, the BTP booked 83,511 cases of footpath parking in the first five months of 2026, while the total stood at 30,000 during the same period last year. In 2024, the figure was 57,000. Compared to the average number of cases booked during the first five months of a year, which stands at 40,500, this year has witnessed a 106.2% increase.

Karthik Reddy, Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic), attributed the rise in both violations to increased enforcement, particularly the intensified field traffic violation reporting (FTVR) since last year.

FTVR is a form of contactless enforcement adopted by the BTP, under which traffic personnel observe violations in real time and capture photographs, which later results in the issuance of online challans. It also includes intercepting offenders in real time.

“We are not depending solely on cameras, and on-ground enforcement has also tightened, resulting in more cases being booked. In addition, we are conducting focused crackdowns that involve prioritising violations and strictly curbing them,” Mr. Reddy told The Hindu.

However, BTP officials said the cases are just the tip of the iceberg, as such violations are rampant along interior and sub-arterial roads where neither cameras nor traffic personnel are present.

Not a sign of declining instances

Another senior traffic officer explained that the increased filing of cases is not helping significantly because many continue to violate traffic rules.

“It is because the fine is as low as ₹500 per violation and the government frequently rolls out concessions on the fines,” the officer said, adding that the proposal to increase the fine for footpath driving is a good move, but it should be extended to footpath parking as well.

Recently, Mr. Gowda proposed increasing the penalty for driving on footpaths to ₹5,000 from the current ₹500.

Another officer pointed out that the city’s footpath design is also flawed, particularly in terms of height, making it easy for two-wheeler riders to mount the footpath. “In most places, even the pointers are not installed at either end of the footpaths, so riders can easily cross them. We need these civic works to be taken up by the corporations,” he said.

Four-hour lecture

The officer noted that the BTP has also started a new initiative to curb gig workers from driving micro-mobility vehicles (MMVs) on footpaths by deploying two officers at every police station to lecture them.

“We can’t book cases against MMVs, as they do not come under the Indian Motor Vehicles Act. So we have started lectures for them,” he said.

Whenever an MMV rider is caught driving on a footpath, the rider is taken to the police station and made to attend a four-hour lecture on traffic violations.

Published - July 24, 2026 08:12 pm IST