On New Year’s Eve, Thane sees dip in cases of drink driving

Thane police attribute this drop in numbers to strict vigilance over the past one week

The Thane traffic police have registered 75 per cent less drink-and-drive cases on December 31, 2020 compared to the previous New Year’s Eve. The police booked 416 drivers for driving in an inebriated state on Thursday while 207 co-passengers were also booked. In 2019, the police had booked 1,673 drivers for drunken driving on New Year’s Eve.

A traffic policeman in PPE kit checks a motorist for drink driving near Durgadi Bridge, Kalyan (W), on the New Year’s Eve on Thursday. (Rishikesh Choudhary/HT)

Out of the total cases on Thursday, 107 were from Narpoli and 81 from Kongao. Police also called the parents of 18 youngsters and asked them to pick up their children and also gave them a warning.

The Thane traffic police attributed the drop to strict vigilance over the last 10 days.

In the past week, the traffic police cracked down 1,372 drink-and-drive cases of which 451 were co-passengers.

DCP Balasaheb Patil said, “We had increased vigilance and started taking action against the traffic offenders more than a week ago so that people driving under the influence of alcohol would be alert about police action well in advance. In the cases of youngsters driving under influence of alcohol, their parents had been called. Most parents took the call positively and reprimanded their children. Most family members appreciated this initiative taken by us and we will continue this in the future also.

“Different squads were posted at various spots in the city making it difficult for offenders to escape. Several check nakas were set up in the city at Ghodbunder, Majiwada, Kapurbavdi, Mulund, Mumbra, Shilphata since December 25.”

Traffic police who were geared up with all safety equipment including a PPE kit were found checking passengers using breath analysers. The teams themselves had sanitisers and immunity boosters to keep themselves safe from Covid infection while conducting checks on the commuters. Patil said that the nozzle of breath analysers was changed in front of the drivers before every check, so no complaints were raised.