Hyderabad:
With rise in drunken driving cases reported in the city, the Hyderabad Traffic Police is all set to create a database of such drivers in order to keep a tab on habitual offenders.
The traffic police is also seeking to put in place stringent measures like imprisonment for habitual offenders and for cancellation of driving licenses, as part of its drive against drunken driving.
"The drive against drunken driving launched in November last year has seen registration of as many as 9,000 cases till date, but we don't have a database of such offenders. Now plans are afoot to maintain database of the repeat offenders," Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) C V Anand said.
Though records of various other traffic violations are stored, now it will also include the database of offenders of drunken driving, which would be integrated with the hand-held PDA devices of the traffic personnel.
This will enable to immediately know details on the kind of the repeated offence and pending fines, among other details, of such drivers, he said.
"Enforcement of steps against drunken driving will be further intensified with increased checking to bring down the road-crash related accidents and number of deaths. Besides, efforts are on to bring in more stringent measures against these offenders," the ACP said.
"We are asking for awarding of imprisonment for repeat offence and are working with the road transport officials seeking to cancel the driving licenses of such drivers, as the courts apart from imposing fines can also order for suspension of licenses," Anand said.
"During checking of drunk drivers, we are using a standard operating procedure and every team follows the same. Under provisions of Motor Vehicle Act, we use breath analysers and if the reading of Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) is found above the 30 mg per 100 ml blood, it is considered drunk driving," the official said.
"We don't arrest the person but detain their vehicles and ask them to come for counselling where we educate them on the dangers of drunken driving," Anand said.
Such drivers undergo a detailed counselling session where video films are shown on the repercussions of driving under the influence of alcohol and other traffic violations. Also, an appeal is made to them to avoid drunk driving in future, he said.
Those who attend the counselling session, have their challan stamped at the Traffic Training Institute, certifying that they have undergone counselling.
Later, the drunk drivers are produced before a court which can fine them upto Rs 3,000. It has been found that majority of drunk drivers are in the age-group of 20-28 years and also teenagers, including women. Hence, now women police officials and constables will check them, he said.
The Hyderabad traffic police officers are already being trained here as part of the global 'Road Safety 2010' project (RS10) by the WHO, which is being implemented in Jalandhar and the Andhra capital.
To ensure effective enforcement of steps against drunken driving, high-tech equipment like breath analysers and digital still cameras are being provided to police for photographic evidence of traffic violations, Anand said.