The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Drunken driving cases on the rise

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Tuesday, Aug 26, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Drunken driving cases on the rise

B. Madhu Gopal

City police promise to take tough measures against offenders

A truck that collided head-on with an autorickshaw killing five persons on the outskirts of Visakhapatnam recently.

VISAKHAPATNAM: An employee of the Visakhapatnam Port Trust was cycling his way back home after work when a lorry trailer hit him from behind on the flyover at Kancharapalem.

He died on the spot, leaving his family members without support.

The trailer driver was in an inebriated condition and the reading on the alcometer showed 250 mg of alcohol/100ml of blood (blood alcohol concentration).

A garbage truck belonging to the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) hit an autorickshaw and two motorcycles at the traffic island on the National Highway (NH-5) at Thatichetlapalem. T

he autorickshaw overturned and two motorcyclists were injured in the accident. The GVMC driver hit the stationary vehicles while they waited for the signal light to turn green.

He was fully drunk and, perhaps, failed to realise that the motorists ahead of him had stopped at the signal lights. Luckily, the victims escaped with injuries.

In another case, a motorcyclist going from Satyam centre towards Gurudwara on the National Highway lost control and hit the road divider and died.

A post-mortem revealed that the motorist was under the influence of alcohol.

In another incident, a truck driver hit the road divider at Madhurawada and refused to stop when the highway patrol vehicle stopped him.

Growing problem

The patrol police chased him and overtook him and parked their vehicle across the road to compel him to stop but the driver, who was obviously in high spirits thought he could escape and hit the police vehicle. It was a different thing that he was caught by the police.

The City Traffic Police have decided to check the growing menace of drunken driving. “We are going to computerise the details of motorists driving under the influence of alcohol and make them available at all police stations in the city. The licenses of motorists booked a second time for the same offence would be cancelled apart from the prospect of heavy fines and imprisonment,” says Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) P. Viswa Prasad.

Alcometers were introduced last year to book culprits on the spot. As many as 1,076 motorists were booked for driving under the influence of alcohol in 2007 and they were fined Rs. 9,16,300 by the courts. As many as 993 motorists have been booked under Section 185 of the Motor Vehicle Act of 1988 and Rs,7,04,000 collected as fines so far this year.

Earlier, the blood samples of the driver, who was suspected to be under intoxication, had to be sent to the lab to confirm the same. Delays used to dilute the intensity of the case.

“When the blood alcohol concentration is more than 30 mg/100ml as per the alcometer reading, the motorist can be booked for drunken driving. The alcometer reading is admissible evidence in court and motorists do not generally contest it as the reading is taken on the spot,” says Mr. Viswa Prasad.

Heavy fine

Motorists are being fined Rs.2,000 or six months imprisonment or both for the first offence and they are being sentenced to two years for the subsequent offence. Section 75 of the IPC provides for enhanced punishment to those who are found guilty for a second or subsequent violation.

“We plan to use the data bank on drunken driving to build a strong case in the courts for subsequent offences by motorists driving under the influence of alcohol. Two motorists were jailed during the last two years,” says the DCP.

The Transport Department also has an interceptor which is equipped with a breathe analyser that can detect drunken driving.

“Drinking and driving do not go well together. A motorist has to engage someone to drive the vehicle or one of the team members has to abstain from alcohol at the party,” Police Commissioner N. Sambasiva Rao cautioned.

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