Drunken driving rampant among youth

Visakhapatnam: Traffic police have observed that a number of youngsters in the city are driving under the influence of alcohol.

The number of drunk and driving cases have gone up and some areas like Maddilapalem, Jagadamba Junction, RK Beach stretch and some parts on NH-16 have won the dubious distinction of recording maximum number of such cases.

Traffic cops, by the end of November, 2013, registered over 6,900 drunken driving cases and of them, 52 were found to be young motorists. In 2012, the number of drunken driving cases registered were 6,508 and the year before, it was 4,642.

Police said despite their campaign against drunken driving, number of youths, including students of various colleges in the city, were indulging in the practice. However, as per police records, not a single woman or a girl was caught under charges of driving while drunk. This even led to criticism that cops were targeting only male motorists.

Police said as per Section 185 of Motor Vehicle Act, if a motorist is caught with alcohol content exceeding 30 mg per 100 ml of blood, which can be tested with the help of a breath analyser, the motorist can be imprisoned for up to six months.

Additional deputy commissioner of police (traffic) V. Suresh Babu told this reporter that if a motorist is tested positive, he/she would be taken to the police station and is produced before the court, where they can plead guilty and the motorist is charged a fine of up to Rs2,000.

In 2012, fines of Rs 43.9 lakh was collected from 6,508 druken motorists. In 2013, 6,900 drunken motorists were fined up to Rs 58.6 lakh, so far.