DUI could land you in jail
Beware drunken drivers! Driving your vehicle after downing a few pegs too many could land you in prison. The City traffic police, which launched a special drive to prevent drunken driving in a bid to reduce fatal accidents, is now all set to send offenders to jail for at least six months.
Given the rise in number of fatal accidents each year, thanks to driving under the influence of alcohol, the traffic police is now determined to curb them. As per the official statistics, a total of 441 people died in road accidents last year. The number stood at 494 in the year 2010.
“We have no choice but to go ahead with our plan to send drunken drivers to jail. We held discussions with legal experts on the issue and got the nod. From next week, at court hearings will ask that the offenders be sent to jail,” CV Anand, additional commissioner of police (Traffic) CV Anand told Postnoon. He further added that this move came in light of the large number of accidents taking place each year.
It may be emphasised here that during special drive in the last six months, the traffic police did not press for imprisonment of the accused and only confined themselves to seizing the vehicle and producing the accused in the court to pay the penalty imposed by the concerned magistrate. As per section 85 (a&b) of Motor Vehicle Act, 1988, a person who is caught driving the vehicle in an intoxicated condition and detected to have 30ml of alcohol per 100 ml of blood is liable to be punished with six months imprisonment or by `2,000 fine or with both.
However, Anand revealed that during the initial stages of their new drive, the police will only send those people to jail who had more than 150ml of alcohol per 100ml of blood.“By doing this, we can create fear among other drunk drivers and force them avoid driving under the influence of alcohol,” he said.
The City traffic police took inspiration from Mumbai and Delhi, where a similar practice is in place to deal with cases of drunken driving. The traffic police in these metros have been implementing the Motor Vehicle Act in a strict manner for a long time to contain the incidence of fatal accidents. In Delhi alone, over 2,000 people were sent to jail for resorting to drunken driving in the last one year.
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