3K booked for drunk driving

Mumbai: As many as 2,978 persons were booked for drunk driving from the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (M-MR), the highest from Th-ane, during New Year celebrations.

 The Mumbai traffic police, meanwhile, registered 455 cases of drunk driving across the city, which were part of as many as 10,690 cases of traffic-related offences that were registered. The number of drunk driving cases recorded a drop from 615 cases that were registered on the year-end in 2017. The city police tested around 9,800 motorist and riders in the intervening night of December 31 and January 1 and found that 455 of them were riding in inebriated condition. The officials said that many of these cases were registered in the suburbs.

Among other cases of traffic related violations, the police registered 1,114 cases of rash driving and over speeding. Another 9,121 other offences, including riding triple seat, without helmet, wrong parking etc., were registered by the traffic police.

“A proposal seeking the suspension of license of the accused motorist and two wheeler riders for the period of six months will be sent to the RTO,” said a traffic police officer.

The Thane police meanwhile saw a whopping 2,071 cases of drunk driving which saw over 80 per cent rise compared to 2017, officials said. In 2017, the Thane police had registered 1,156 cases of drunk driving, officials said.

“The cases were mostly registered from Thane city and further action has been initiated against them,” said Sukhada Narkar, Thane police spokesperson.

The Navi Mumbai police meanwhile booked 350 persons for drunk driving from various parts of the city.

The Thane Rural police also cracked down on drunk driving and booked 102 cases against bike riders mostly in Mira Road and Bhayandar divisions.

The number soared by around 30 per cent as compared to 2017. The police collected penalty to the tune of over '83,000 from motorists for various other traffic related offences including –driving with licenses, signal jumping, triple seat and rash driving.

Last year the drunk and driving cases had stood at 78, police said. The Navghar police had devised an innovative idea to nab those motorists who tried to give a slip to the police teams.  

“Armed with portable laser lights, our personnel flashed the light as a signal to their colleagues ma-nning the nakabandi ahe-ad, in case a biker managed to dodge and zoom away,” said, Ram Bhalsi-ngh, senior police inspector. Sustained efforts and an extensive awareness campaigns will continue in the new year too. “Since drunken driving is a serious offence, those who were found driving under the influence of alcohol will be produced before court to decide their quantum of penalt,” said Jagdish Shinde.