Around 3K Booked for Drunk Driving, 85% Aged 21-40

HYDERABAD: As many as 2,971 persons — mostly men, with only four women among them — were caught driving drunk in the tricommissionerate area on the intervening night of December 31, 2023, and January 1, 2024, as the city revelled in the New Year celebrations.

Further, 85 per cent of them were aged between 21 and 40, the police said.

Of the 2,971 violations, 2,485 were on two-wheelers, the police said, with 1,066 violations recorded in the Hyderabad commissionerate, while 938 and 431 violations were recorded in Cyberabad and Rachakonda, respectively. There were 135 four-wheeler violations in the Hyderabad region, with 275 — the maximum of the three — in Cyberabad and 76 in Rachakonda.

Hyderabad police commissioner Kothakota Sreenivasa Reddy said: “City police booked a total of 1,243 persons, including two women. Cyberabad police booked 1,241, including two women and Rachakonda police booked 517 drunk men driving vehicles.”

The police said that all drunk drivers were produced in court after chargesheets were filed, and their driver’s licences were collected and sent to RTAs concerned for suspension, under Section 19 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988.

Cyberabad police commissioner Avinash Mohanty said: “With the extensive enforcement and traffic and road safety plans by Cyberabad traffic police, there were no major road accidents anywhere in Cyberabad.”

 “In view of the long weekend, the special focus on drunk driving will continue in Cyberabad limits to ensure road safety as part of our zero-tolerance policy,” he said.

Further, the Cyberabad police extended New Year greetings to citizens, requesting them not to indulge in dangerous activities on roads for the safety of all, as per a press release.

Rachakonda police commissioner G. Sudheer Babu said: “We will continue the drunk driving checks and raids on pubs to identify places where drugs are involved. This year, we have planned to coordinate with both the commissionerates to eradicate drug menace.”