Delhi,Mumbai have highest drink-driving cases,states NGO study

According to the survey,using figures from the National Crime Records Bureau and WHO,about 56 accidents and nearly 14 deaths occur on Indian roads every hour. The report also states that in 2001 in Delhi,1,545 people were killed due to accidents,while in Mumbai,below 1,000 were killed. In 2010,however,11,388 people lost their lives in Delhi while 16,290 people died in Mumbai in road accidents.

According to the report,drink-driving has been responsible for 70% of road fatalities in the two cities. It also mentions that in 2010,India recorded 1,34,000 road accident deaths — which was the highest in the world. The World Bank’s trends put this figure at 2,00,000 annually.

About 5,20,000 road accident injuries and 4,90,000 road accidents occurred in 2010. About 56 accidents and 14 deaths occur due to road accident per hour.

“A WHO report stated in 2001 that India will see an annual escalation of over 3 per cent in road accident deaths till 2040,unless emergency measures are taken. We have already surpassed the prediction with over 30 per cent escalation since 2005,” said Prince Singhal,activist working with CADD.

Singhal further said that the high incidence of drink-driving is indicated by rising levels of police prosecution,but that this also gives a marginal picture as prosecution rates are only 2 per cent of the actual number of drink drivers in Mumbai. “We will now take this report to the police authorities in Delhi and Mumbai and try to work on a solution with them,” added Singhal.

However,the police chiefs of both the cities denied the claims made by the study. Delhi Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Satyendra Garg said,“The findings of the survey is incorrect. We conduct drink-driving checks in the city regularly,with 50 teams spread across the city. The checks are conducted twice a week,once on a weekday and once over the weekend. Before August 2010,there was no jail term for drink driving and the number of people stopped… were between 250 and 300 per check. However,after August 2010 and particularly in 2011,the number of persons stopped for exceeding the mark has come down to between 120-130 people. We would,therefore,like to question the methodology of the survey and on what basis they have arrived at this conclusion.”