High on wheels

Six months8217; jail for seven deaths8212;the verdict in the Alister Perreira hit-and-run case was shocking by any standards. Last week...

Six months8217; jail for seven deaths8212;the verdict in the Alister Perreira hit-and-run case was shocking by any standards. Last week, the Bombay High Court, which suo motu took up the case following a public outcry, corrected that to three years8217; rigorous imprisonment, saying the 22-year-old who is believed to have been drunk at the time of the November 2006 accident 8220;doesn8217;t deserve sympathy8221;. While Perreira cools his heels in custody, awaiting his bail hearing, Mumbai8217;s other famous case involving death by drunken driving, with Salman Khan reportedly behind the wheels, is nowhere near closure. Charges of culpable homicide were made out against the actor in the 2002 incident, which led to the death of one person, but these were later dropped. Meanwhile, in Delhi, Sanjeev Nanda8212;the grandson of a former Naval Chief Admiral accused of mowing down six people in 1999 while inebriated, in what became famous as the BMW case8212;is out on bail while the case is back in the news for a TV sting operation exposing a nexus between prosecution and defence lawyers.

While there is no available countrywide data relating to road accidents due to drunken driving, estimates by some agencies show 25 per cent of the accidents may be caused by inebriated drivers. 30-40 per cent of the night-time accidents are attributed to alcohol

Norway: In 1936, it became one of the world8217;s first countries to introduce a law which made it an offence to drive with more than a specified amount of alcohol in the body

US: Since 2002 it is illegal in all 50 US states to drive with a Blood Alcohol Content BAC, measured as a percentage of alcohol in the blood by weight that is 0.08 or higher. 8216;Driving Under the Influence DIU8217; generally constitutes a misdemeanour, punishable by up to one year in jail. The offence may be elevated to a felony punishable by a longer term if the incident causes serious injury, death or extensive property damage or if the defendant has a designated number of prior DUI convictions within a given time period commonly, three prior convictions within 7 years.

California, which is being emulated by a growing number of states, now presses second-degree murder charges where the legal state of mind of malice exists8212; that is, where the defendant exhibited a reckless indifference to the lives of others. Penalties for DIU commonly include incarceration, fines, driver licence suspension or revocation, mandatory attendance at DUI schools, community service, probation and, increasingly, installation of an Ignition Interlock Device. The defendants may have their vehicles forfeited if they are convicted and sentenced.

Canada: The minimum punishment for driving with a blood alcohol concentration greater than 80 mg of alcohol in 100 ml of blood can be 1-year driving prohibition or jail time for a first offence, 14 days8217; jail and 2-year driving prohibition for a second; and 90 days8217; jail and 3-year driving prohibition for a third and subsequent offences. Recently, a man with a history of impaired driving, involving 39 convictions, was given 6 years in prison 8212; the most severe penalty handed down in Canada when the offence did not involve a fatality

Australia: Law allows police officers to stop a driver and perform random breath tests without reason. Roadblocks can be set up, for example leading out of town centres on Friday and Saturday nights or during football or other events, where every single driver is breath-tested. This differs from UK and US laws, where police generally need a reason to suspect drinking, before issuing a breath test.

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Costa Rica: Licence plates are immediately removed from a drunk driver8217;s vehicle

Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia: Drinking alcohol is illegal

India: The Motor Vehicles Act, 1939, has a clause which states that a drunk driver can be imprisoned for a term extending to six months or fined upto Rs 2,000 or both for a first offence; and imprisoned as well as fined Rs 3,000, or both, for a second offence. A rash and negligent act leading to death can invite 2 years8217; jail time while culpable homicide not amounting to murder can get an accused 10 years, non-bailable. Incidentally, there is an amendment proposed to tighten these laws further.

Now for the reality check: The blood alcohol limit in India is 3 mg/1 ml, compared to the US upper limit of 1 mg/1 ml. But police in smaller cities, towns and rural communities of India have no access to breath analysers. Seeking to avoid cumbersome court cases, many city policemen do not even use the devices on hand. If and when an accused is caught, shoddy investigation shows that he/she manages to mostly go free.