Hyderabad: Drunk drivers know their act

Hyderabad: Over 6,400 motorists have been jailed for drunk driving in two years but drunks continue to bedevil the city’s roads. Traffic cops book over 1,200 drunk drivers, but social workers and psychologists say there are many reasons why motorists still hit the road under the influence of alcohol.

Social worker T. Satish Gupta said the number of drivers booked would have been greater but for traffic cops becoming predictable. “Most motorists know the spots where traffic cops conduct the checks. They also know the timing of the checks. It becomes easy for them to escape the net.”

Psychologist Pragya Rashmi said drunk driving was not perceived as a threat by many people. Despite creating awareness about the dangers involved and health issues, people continue to drive drunk. “Stricter punishment should be given,” she said.

Dr S.V. Nagnath, counselling psychologist with a corporate hospital, said liquor is available on main roads and people are allowed to consume it at the liquor shops. Most people travel by personal vehicles. After they consume alcohol, they have to go back home. “Lack of social responsibility among the motorists is also responsible for cases not coming down,” he said.

“There is a need to study why drunk driving is continuing. There are people who continue to do it despite having been jailed. That’s ‘due to lack of guilty conscience and may be a psychological disorder which must be handled tactfully,” Dr Nagnath said.

Traffic police contended that their drives had created fear among motorists. Otherwise, there would have been more drunks at the wheel, said M. Srinivasulu, Traffic Training Institute inspector, Goshamahal. DCP Traffic L.S. Chauhan said the traffic police changes the places where they conduct checks, and over 35,000 cases of drunk driving have been booked in two years.

Shame of going to jail works well
Counselling does not work. The humiliation of being jailed, and embarrassment that the family goes through in having to turn up at jail, is what seems to prevent most motorists from driving drunk again.

Of the 6,400 persons jailed over two years, only 80 have ever been caught driving drunk again. Chanchalguda central prison superintendent B. Saidaiah told this correspondent that most of those sent to jail for drunk driving feel ashamed and promise not to repeat it.

They feel ashamed at bringing disrepute to the family and friends who come to meet them in jail. “Sending drunk drivers to jail is bringing about a change in their mindset. We do not see many repeat offenders except for autorickshaw drivers who have become habitual drunkards,” said Mr Saidaiah.

Motorists from educated sections feel ashamed and tell us that they won’t commit such a mistake again as they have disgraced their family, he said. Habitual drunkards are sent to the Institute of Mental Health for psychiatric and related counselling.

DCP Traffic L.S. Chauhan said about 80 motorists, mostly autorickshaw and lorry drivers, had been sent to jail twice or more for drunk driving. “While 80 is a small number, even this is dangerous for other road users,” he said. Prison officials said they get little time to counsel drunk drivers as the imprisonment is mostly for a day, three days and in some cases up to a week.