No more kid gloves for those who endanger their own lives and the lives of other road users in Coimbatore. The city police made good on their promise to crack down last weekend, and caught 292 people driving under the influence of alcohol over Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Immediately after, the police sent their names to the RTO, and the licences of all 292 drunk drivers will soon be cancelled.
Speaking to TNM, M Durai, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Traffic, said, “It was a weekend drive to minimise the number of accidents in the city. From now on, every weekend this drive will be conducted by the Coimbatore traffic police. During the weekdays, drunk driving cases are comparatively lesser. On Fridays and Sundays, the cases of drunk driving go up.”
Last month, the city traffic police in Coimbatore had announced that they will be cancelling the driving license of the people who violate traffic rules, reported The Times of India. In a press release, the city traffic police had stated that they have decided to mainly focus on people who jump traffic lights, use cellphones while driving, drive under the influence of alcohol, carry persons in goods vehicles, and overload goods vehicles from June 1, 2017.
Over 1500 killed in road accidents in Coumbatore
According to a research in the International Journal of Innovative Research in Advanced Engineering, there were 1,548 people who lost their lives in five months in 2015 due to road accidents in Coimbatore city, and the study states that drunken driving was a major factor for road accidents here.
It’s not just the city that is affected by drunken driving though.
In the year 2016, there were about 230 road accidents in rural Coimbatore, according to a research by JP Research Private Limited, on accidents between January and December 2016.
Of the 230 accidents, they analysed 218 accidents and found that 14 per cent of these cases were due to drunk driving.
How to reduce drunk driving cases?
The study further said that strict law enforcement is the only solution to stop drunk driving, which should include jail time and revoking licenses for drunk driving convictions.
The Supreme Court Committee on Road Safety had earlier issued directions to the State and Union Territories to cancel driving licenses for at least three months for traffic violations under Section 19 of the Motor Vehicle Act, 1988 read with Rule 21 of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989, reported The Hindu.
(With inputs from Sudhakar Balasundaram.)