Hyderabad: In two months, over 800 motorists have been sent to jail for drunk driving for periods ranging from a day to a fortnight. Over 5,500 drunk drivers have been booked in Hyderabad and Cyberabad this year.
Social workers and psychologists said traffic cops should conduct checks in the vicinity of liquor shops on main roads where two-wheeler riders openly consume liquor. Bylanes should be barricaded strategically to prevent them from escaping during the checks.
Social worker Telukunta Satish Gupta said the figure of 5,000 cases is nothing if the large number of drunks driving vehicles is taken into consideration.
“Traffic police check points on any given date would not be more than 25 compared to over 240 legitimate wine shops, not to mention the unauthorised ones. Though permit rooms have been allowed, the wine shop managements allow customers consume liquor on the roadside which is a nuisance. These people drive their vehicles, mostly two wheelers, under the influence of alcohol. They escape into the bylanes at the sight of traffic cops," said Satish Gupta.
Counselling psychologist Dr S.V. Nagnath said driving when drunk represents your social and individual perception towards life. One should know the value of his life as well as that of society. "If traffic cops launch a serious drive setting up points in the vicinity of every wine shop, one night would not be sufficient to check and book cases. Thousands of motorists would be caught driving when drunk and a majority of them would be two-wheeler riders. The fear factor is less among bikers," he said.
Telangana State Wine Dealers Association president Venkateshwar Rao admitted that people consume liquor outside wine shops but it is because permit rooms are jam packed.
“We ask people to ensure that one among them does not consume liquor so that he can drive the others back home. People generally ask who doesn’t like to drink these days,” he said.
The practice abroad is that one person in a group, by rotation, does not drink When we say that liquor consumption has gone up and we are following western culture, why not adopt this formula also,” he said. “Traffic cops are doing their duty and we also tell our customers to follow rules."
Traffic DCP (Hyderabad) A.V. Ranganath said it is not possible to book every drunk motorist. But the suggestion that checkpoints be near wine shops is a good one and the police would implement it.
