10,700 booked as cops increase patrolling hours

MUMBAI: So far this year, 10,700 drivers have been caught for driving under the influence of alcohol.

For the last three months, the traffic police have extended their nightly checks for drunk drivers from 1.30 am to 3 am. Senior officials said that the locations of these drives are changed regularly so as to catch drunk drivers by surprise.

Moreover, the traffic police have also deployed women constables to check on women drivers taking the wheel after drinking.

On June 9, lawyer Janhavi Gadkar, 35, was driving an Audi on the wrong side of Eastern Freeway when she crashed into an oncoming taxi, killing two occupants and injuring four others. Gadkar was drunk beyond permissible limits at the time of the accident, said police. She was arrested. The sessions court granted Gadkar bail on August 5.

Following this headline-grabbing crash, the police also took measures to bring women drivers under scrutiny.

After the accident, HT also found that there was only one woman among 6,980 drink drivers booked in the six months before the Gadkar accident took place. The police attributed the low number of cases to the shortage of women police in the force.

Traffic police are hopeful these measures will significantly bring down the number of accidents caused by drunk drivers.

Panjabrao Ugale, deputy commissioner of police, traffic, said, “Through this order, we aim to curb the incidents of drink driving. Traffic police will man nakabandi points until 3 am, as per the order.” Police said they have been conducting stringent checks on major roads and highways in the city.