The city recorded 95 drink and drive cases during special drives conducted on Sept. 18 and 19, 2021.
Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic) BR Ravikante Gowda ordered a restart of drunk driving testing on Sept. 18, 2021.
Gowda said that licenses of those caught would be considered for cancellation by the transport department. Further, he added that since testing was not done for a long time, many motorists took advantage of this and were driving while drunk. The blood samples of the motorists caught during the drives are being sent for Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) test, said Gowda.
“In the last few days, a lot of fatal and near-fatal accidents happened in Bangalore, so we have started special drives on weekends and mid-weekdays,” Additional Commissioner of Police Traffic Planning said. The commissioner added that we check the drivers and if they are drunk, we take them to the nearest hospital.
“A couple of weeks ago, there was an accident around 1 km from our club which was later found to be a drink and drive case,” said Vikas, manager of the Bier Library and Brewery.
A WHO study on Bangalore’s alcohol consumption notes that nearly two thirds of the users (67.4%) are in the age group of 26 to 45 years. A study on alcohol consumption shows that even one peg is harmful. “If someone starts drinking at a very young age, it can affect their liver and also cause pancreatic and gastro intestinal cancers,” said Dr. U. Vivek, a psychiatrist.
The Bangalore Traffic Police recorded 5343 and 110 cases of drinking and driving in 2020 and 2021, respectively. When compared to 2018 and 2019, the number of drink and drive cases decreased in 2020 and 2021. Bangalore recorded 12,277 and 40,602 drink and drive incidents in 2018 and 2019, respectively.
During the new year celebrations of 2021, the traffic police intensified drink-driving checking and registered nearly 100 cases on a daily basis.
It’s well articulated.