Over 23K drunk driving cases booked in Hyd in 2022 but only 8 licenses canceled

Hyderabad: Only eight driving licenses have been canceled and 59 licenses have been suspended in the 23,749 drunk driving cases booked in 2022 in the Hyderabad commissionarate, according to the Hyderabad traffic department.

Of the total cases booked, 10,342 have been disposed of in court. The court has imposed fines in the majority of the cases that have been cleared so far.

A fine of Rs. 2.44 crores have been imposed in 9,929 drunk driving cases to date. In six cases, the court convicted people for imprisonment only. In 335 cases, the court convicted people for imprisonment and also levied fines.

Imprisonment for drunk driving cases was canceled in view of Covid-19 in the last two years.

According to the Motor Vehicles Act, drinking and driving shall be punishable for the first offense with imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months or with a fine which may extend to Rs. 2,000 or both.

After a hiatus on imprisonment for drunk driving, the Nampally Metropolitan Magistrate Court convicted 30 persons for seven days imprisonment in drunk driving cases in May.

There are approximately 13,000 cases pending as of July 2022.

Cases over the years

A total of 1,71,589 drunk driving cases have been booked by the Hyderabad traffic police since 2014. In the first two months of 2022, 5,876 cases were booked in the city.

2019 saw the highest number of drunk driving cases (29,746) followed by 2018 (29,484).

On the other hand, 2020 saw the least number of cases (6,857). However, there was a sharp rise in drunk driving cases in 2021 during which 29,439 cases were booked.