The Gurgaon police recently launched its Respect the road,dont drink and drive programme to educate people on the ill-effects of drink driving. The programme was launched by Police Commissioner Surjeet Singh Deswal from his office on October 21. Elaborating on the matter,Deswal said police teams would visit educational institutions as well to spread awareness because youths are more susceptible to fatal accidents. The number of accidents on Indian roads was ten times the global average,he added. Police officers said that in the last nine months,10,592 challans had been issued for drink driving in Gurgaon,and about 60 people were arrested. Of these,13 persons were remanded in judicial custody. The total number of traffic violation cases registered was 2,37,453. Deswal said that the city police was soon going to start a new technique of checking driving licences,something that would make detection of fake licences easier. Besides this,police would punch holes in the licences of people found violating traffic rules. If a person is caught violating the rules,a check would ensure the complete display of his driving history on the computer screen. According to Section 185 of the Motor Vehicle Act,a person with alcohol levels of more than 30 mg per 100 ml blood in his breath analyser test can be punished with imprisonment of six months or a fine of Rs 1,000 or both. If a person violates traffic rules for the second time,imprisonment for two years or a fine of Rs 3,000,or both,can be imposed. Officials said that Section 202 of the MVA empowers police officers to carry out a warrantless arrest of any person who commits offence punishable under Section 185 in his presence.
