Mumbai: The traffic police department (Kashimira Unit) attached to the Mira Bhayandar-Vasai Virar (MBVV) police have booked 117 drunk drivers including bikers and motorists in the past five months between 1, January to 4, June 2024.
The number of cases has witnessed a marginal increase of 10 percent as compared to around 100 cases registered during the corresponding period in 2023. The rise in cases has been attributed to the strict law enforcement undertaken in view of the rising fatal road accidents caused by drunk driving.
The police have also trained their attention on curbing underage driving especially in the wake of the incident in which a minor knocked down a bike with his Porsche car leading to death of two people in the Kalyani Nagar area of Pune on 19, May.
“Armed with calibrated breath-analysers, our personnel apart from regular street patrolling position themselves at strategically located checkpoints across the twin-city.” said police inspector (traffic)- Devidas Handore.
The global positioning system (GPS)-enabled breath-analysers systems will not only pinpoint locations but also click photographs of suspects and immediately hand out print out receipts with information about alcohol consumption levels.
Bars Serving Booze to Minors on Radar.
While advisories have been issued to all hotels, bars and party places to discourage party revellers from driving after drinking, surprise inspections are being conducted at these establishments by the MBVV police to ensure that minors are not being served liquor.
Wine and beer shop owners have also been strictly warned to not to sell liquor to the person below 21 years of age. Consumption and addiction to liquor and tobacco-laced hookah is on a rise among youngsters leading to reckless driving in an inebriated state.
40,426 Erring Motorists Fined Rs.2.92 Crore.
Meanwhile the traffic police have filed more than 40,000 cases against erring motorists for violations of traffic rules in the past five months. As per statistics sourced out from the traffic department, a total of 40,426 challans were issued by the traffic police from 1, January 2023 to 4, June 2024, the fines payable against which stands at more than Rs.2.92 crore. While 13,230 offenders have cleared challans by paying more than Rs.1.02 crore, around 26,745 challans amounting more than Rs.1.89 crore continue to remain unpaid.
