Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
Tags:
Journalism of Courage
The Vadodara city police, which have been deployed at important points across the city in preparation for New Year’s Eve, put several motorists to the Field Sobriety Test (FST) on the intervening night of Tuesday as a part of the crackdown on alcohol consumption and drug abuse.
At the Akota Dandia Bazar flyover, police personnel were seen asking motorists to perform sobriety tests to check for intoxication by assessing their balance, coordination, and attention. Some motorists were asked to walk, coordinating the front toe and heel on the white divider strips on the street.
Deputy Commissioner of Police Zone 2 Abhay Soni, told The Indian Express, “The FST is an accepted primary test to detect a drunk or intoxicated state in motorists, even if blood levels are low and the breath analysers are unable to detect the intoxication. In the West, it is an accepted test and even admissible in a court of law. But, in India, we use it for a preliminary exam and then proceed for blood tests to gather evidence.”
Soni added that while the motorists in Vadodara were asked to walk in foot coordination on the white dividing lines, other tests include the horizontal gaze test, which involves asking the drivers to watch objects move slowly from side to side.
Soni said that while the police teams did not find any suspected cases on Tuesday, the sobriety tests could come in handy to find offenders under the prohibition law or NDPS during the New Year’s deployment.
Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram
