Cases of drink driving in city up by 27%

TILL NOVEMBER 8, A TOTAL OF 33,033 FINES WERE ISSUED FOR DRINK DRIVING, DATA RELEASED BY THE DELHI TRAFFIC POLICE SHOWS

NEWDELHI: As many as 33,000 people were caught driving in an inebriated state on the city’s roads this year, around 27% higher than last year, data from Delhi Traffic Police shows.

Data shows that an upward trend of drink driving cases has been observed in the last few years.

In 2017, a total of 26,008 fines were issued, while the year before it the prosecutions settled at 23,393.

This year, till November 8, a total of 33,033 people were fined for drink driving by the traffic police.

Senior traffic officials said that the rampant cases of driv- ing under the influence of alcohol have led them to organise regular drives to catch violators. Since violations generally spike during the festival season, special drives are conducted during these months, senior traffic police officials said.

This year too, the drive was intensified between Dussehra and Diwali.

Data shows that in the 20-day period between October 19 and November 7 this year, over 2,143 people were prosecuted for driving under the influence of alcohol.

Joint commissioner of police (traffic) Alok Kumar said that analysis of drink driving cases over the last few years show that most of such incidents are reported either late at night or during the early hours of the morning — between 1am and 4am.

“At night, around most popular markets with pubs and nightclubs we have set up pickets to check for cases of drink driving. We take such offences very seriously, by drinking before getting behind the wheel you are not just risking your own life but are also endangering the lives of those around us,” said Kumar.

In 2015, the Delhi Traffic Police drew up a city map based on the areas in the city most prone to the cases of driving under the influence.

Hauz Khas, Connaught Place, Rajouri Garden and Nehru Place were found to have recorded the most number of such cases.

The survey also observed that out of all the violators who were caught during the drives, at least 40% were people below the age of 30 years.

“When you are young you think you can handle drinking and driving together. But whatever age you are, alcohol dulls your reflexes and increases the possibility of getting into a fatal accident,” Kumar said.