KOLKATA: A total of 158 motorists and bikers were prosecuted for drink driving this weekend between Friday evening and Sunday late night. Sixty of them — the highest this weekend — were caught drinking beyond the allowed limit by a breathalyzer on Saturday. Another 51 were prosecuted on Friday on charges of drink driving and another 47 were found driving in an inebriated condition on Sunday night.
“This weekend saw a 27% rise in drink driving cases, given that we had hauled up 107 motorists for drink driving the previous weekend. The Park Street area alone, between Loudon Street and Park Circus 7 point crossing, saw 50 cases of drink driving this weekend. As many as 43 were found to be returning from either a pub or a restaurant. The rest were found crossing the area while returning from some other places,” said an officer at Lalbazar.
"Relaxation of restrictions should not result in indiscipline on the road and dangerous driving. Covid relaxations do not give licence to mix driving with drinking.-Timesview"
Incidentally, most of the prosecutions took place between 10.30pm and 11.30pm when the motorists were returning home after consuming alcohol. However, some prosecutions took place beyond midnight, indicating people had queued up at bars even after 10.30pm. “A small section of patrons is perhaps not paying attention to the fact that night restrictions are still in place post-midnight,” said an East Guard officer.
In fact, close to 5% of the entire MV Act weekend prosecutions accounted for drink driving alone. Notably, unlike all other raids that continue throughout the day, drink driving raids begin only around 9pm and continue for the next five hours..
Among the other pockets that reported significant cases of drink driving were the Girish Park-Burtolla stretch, the Sealdah and the Beliaghata stretch.
After the spurt in prosecution numbers, cops announced a new measure to curb drink driving. “All 25 traffic guards have been instructed to add provisions of dangerous driving (184 MV Act carrying Rs 5000 fine) for all drink driving cases beyond permissible limits. This will force them to pay up immediately even as a court will decide the fine amount directly linked with drink driving,” said DC (Traffic) Arijit Sinha.
Police sources said they wish to follow a zero-tolerance policy as this period has witnessed three fatal accidents - at Wellington, Sulekha and Hastings.
