Ahead of year-end celebrations, stringent action in drink-driving cases

This year, Koregaon Park logged the highest number of drink driving cases (132) whereas last year, Shivajinagar logged the highest number of such cases (8)

With Christmas and New Year festivities drawing near, the Pune traffic police department is gearing up to check drink driving cases in the coming days. Senior officials from the traffic police department said that calibration of breath analysers is underway while extra manpower is being deployed at various locations during weekends.

Compared to 37 cases of drink driving last year, the traffic department has recorded as many as 375 such cases this year from January till date. (HT FILE PHOTO)

Vijaykumar Magar, deputy commissioner (traffic), said that police officials are ready with breathalysers and body cameras to combat the increasing number of drink driving cases in the city. “Extra manpower is being deputed between Friday evenings and Sundays to keep the weekend crowd in check,” Magar said.

Arjun Govindrao Botre, traffic police inspector (traffic planning and administration), said that 40 out of their total 100 machines have been calibrated for the drive to check drink driving cases during Christmas and New Year celebrations. At the same time, rural police in the district have also intensified the crackdown on drink driving. According to data shared by officials from Pune rural police, they have taken action against 3,485 drunk drivers and collected Rs4.6 lakh from them in fines over the past nine months between January and September.

Compared to 37 cases of drink driving last year, the traffic department has recorded as many as 375 such cases this year from January till date. According to officials, the driving licenses of repeat offenders will be suspended to discourage such behaviour.

This year, Koregaon Park logged the highest number of drink driving cases (132) whereas last year, Shivajinagar logged the highest number of such cases (8). In 2021, a total 69 cases of drink driving were registered with Faraskhana and Khadki recording the highest number of cases at seven each. The cases were registered under various sections of the Motor Vehicles Act.

This year, Koregaon Park has logged the highest number of drink driving cases due to the presence of several hotels and restaurants in the vicinity, Botre said. “A lot of people go out of Pune to travel and enjoy their weekends; while returning, they get caught due to heavy inspection along the route,” he said.

As per the Motor Vehicles Act, certain offences such as vehicles plying on the wrong side of the road, motorists travelling without helmets, triple carrying or talking on the phone while driving are sent to the court. Offences where motorists and drivers break signals are fined on the spot by the police, Botre said.