One for the road? Think again

The Delhi Police is leading the way when it comes to cracking down on drunk driving. So far this year, a record 2,685 people have been imprisoned for drunk driving. What makes the figure significant is that for the corresponding period last year,not a single person was sent to prison for the same offence. The police have also fined over 15,474 people and suspended the licences of 2,101 others for driving under the influence of alcohol. As many as 91 people have been jailed for more than three days,25 people for more than five days,13 people for more than nine days and 51 people for more that 15 days. North Delhi tops the list with 1,252 cases of drunk driving till now.

According to the traffic police,drunk driving is the main reason for the increase in accidents in the city. Till November15 this year,863 accidents have been reported at night and more than 60 per cent of them involved drunk driving,said police. “Drunk driving is a major contributor to accidents at night. We are now putting such people behind bars not to spoil their fun but to make them realise the seriousness of the problem. Earlier,the police did not send the violators to prison but now we have started doing that along with suspension of licences,” said Garg.

The stringent measures have borne good results,Garg said. “The intensified checking,prosecutions and cancellation of driving licences,have brought down the accident rate drastically,” Garg said.

“Earlier,we used to find more than 300 cases every day. But now we find only around 110 cases in one night. People seem to have become more responsible now,” he said.