Police increase vehicle checkpoints and patrols to crack down on drunk driving
The Hindu
On an average, the personnel register 110 to 120 cases per day, mostly at night. In addition to checkpoints manned by law and order police, the traffic police have set up 10 checkpoints in various parts of the city and deploy 47 patrol vehicles
The police have increased vehicle checkpoints and patrols so that drunk drivers do not give them the slip. Drunk driving is one of the major reasons for fatal accidents.
On the orders of City Police Commissioner Shankar Jiwal, police personnel stop vehicles at several points on arterial roads or important junctions to increase surveillance. A senior police officer said, “There have been instances of motorists under the influence of alcohol who dropped their vehicles and fled upon seeing a police team or someone driving ahead of them landing in our net.”
In addition to vehicle checkpoints manned by law and order police, traffic policemen said they had 10 checkpoints at night and deployed 47 patrol vehicles.
On an average, the police registered 110 to 120 cases per day, mostly at night. Besides, nearly 220 cases were booked during a special drive, mostly on Saturday evenings.
The traffic police’s special drive, surprisingly, caught several autorickshaw drivers who were under the influence of alcohol even during the day, sources said.
At checkpoints, officers of patrol teams with body cameras intercept motorists and tell them to blow on the straw attached to a breathalyser, generating a photo along with the reading. Anyone with an alcohol level exceeding 30 mg per 100 ml of blood are booked.
The police will then collect the licence number and other details of the violator. This is not an easy task as people who are under the influence are often not very cooperative, an officer explained. “Sometimes, they refuse to blow on the straw. Then, we take them to a government hospital to test their blood alcohol level using the conventional method.”