The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Police plan crackdown on drunken driving on New Year's Eve

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Dec 30, 2005

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Police plan crackdown on drunken driving on New Year's Eve

Special Correspondent

No parking after 9 p.m. tomorrow on Mahatma Gandhi Road, Brigade Road

Bangalore: Bars and clubs may be open late but if you are found driving under the influence of alcohol, you may end up with a stiff fine and some dressing down from the police.

The city traffic police are out to curb drunken driving on December 31 and will have patrols in central parts of the city where most of the major hotels and nightclubs are situated.

There will be no parking of vehicles after 9 p.m. on some roads such as Mahatma Gandhi Road and Brigade Road.

This year, the police plan to barricade the flyover in the vicinity late at night or at least prevent revellers on foot crowding on them.

Every New Year eve sees a sharp rise in road accidents in city, some fatal.

In the last two days, the police booked close to 300 cases related to drinking and driving.

The past week saw 20 persons killed in accidents and 105 others injured, some seriously.

The traffic police with the help of a few non-governmental organisations have an ongoing programme to curb drunken driving and in recent months they have been liberally using brethalysers, called Alcometers.

The NGOs have been advocating the practice followed in other countries of a "designated driver" for any party involving drinking. These persons voluntarily abstain from drinking or drink moderately and take over driving after the party.

The others leave their vehicles behind.

For the past fortnight, the traffic police have put up banners at strategic locations, cautioning against combining drinking and driving. Some beverages companies have been running television commercials asking partygoers to "drink responsibly".

The traffic police say accidents have been on the rise because many drivers violate rules.

"All our efforts to improve road safety come to a nought when some drive recklessly, ignoring basic rules such as not jumping signals or obeying one-way rule at night," the police officers said.

Last week, the police booked 32,255 cases of traffic violations and collected Rs. 37 lakhs in fine. Jumping the signal was the most common violation followed by haphazard parking and breaking one-way regulations.

Over 2,100 cases of breaking one-way rules were booked in one week

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Karnataka

News Update

Stories in this Section