TEAM HERALD PANJIM: Even as our State checked 179 people for drunken driving and booked 75 for the full of 2013, Bangalore in one day booked 997 motorists with high alcohol content, 719 two-wheelers, 178 cars, 50 autorickshaws, 11 maxi cabs, 19 tempos and one bus.
While the local RTO and cops hesitate to suspend one licence suspension with officials saying that it is a long process and then courts reinstate it, Bangalore police recommended suspension of licences of all the drivers: 993 men and four women. The police have issued a circular that licences of even first-time offenders would be suspended.
From 9 pm to 2 am on a Saturday, Bangalore police checked 13,231 vehicles from 112 select spots. In Delhi, according to info by Satyendra Garg, Joint
CP Traffic (info as far back as 2011) while the whole of year 2000 had 689
prosecutions for drunken driving, it increased to 1,545 in 2001, 2,464 in
2002. In 2003, it was 2,793, in 2004 figure stood at 2,664. In 2005 there
were 3,551 prosecutions, in 2006 4,286, in 2007 4,192 and there were 8296
drunken driving cases in 2008. In 2009, prosecutions went to 12,784. While
prosecutions stood at 11,388 in 2010, in 8 months of 2011 it was around 12,900.
Also there were 2,250 imprisonments for drunken driving and1,908 driving licences suspended.
STRATEGY
1. Through courts we got a system
where imprisonments were started as
punishment besides fines.
2. Invoking provisions of MV ACT
driving licences also have been
suspended for the offence through
courts.
3. We have intensified prosecution
of drunken driving. Instead of routine
checkings once a week, we have been
doing random citywide checking at
least twice a week.
4. Step to suspend licences was taken
after the campaign against drunk
driving failed to yield results. Traffic
police finally decided to invoke the
provision to suspend licences of even
first-time offenders, under the State
Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, and Central
Motor Vehicles Act, 1989.
