New Year: 2 killed in road accidents; 222 booked for drunken driving in Vizag

Visakhapatnam: A total of 222 motorists were booked for drunken driving on New Year's eve in Vizag city.

Vizag city police also booked as many as 1,559 cases for violating the Motor Vehicle (MV) Act, including triple-riding, rash driving, driving without a helmet, and driving on the wrong side.

Except for one or two incidents, no major untoward incidents were reported along the Beach Road stretches, BRTS roads, and other prime locations in Vizag city during the New Year celebrations in Vizag city, the police added.

"We have registered cases against 47 persons for nuisance at public places, arrested four persons for selling arrack and seized over 6 liters of hooch and registered cases against 76 persons for consumption of alcohol at public places", police added.

Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Sheikh Arifullah said that more than 400 traffic police personnel were on duty from Saturday night to Sunday morning and they managed to mitigate the possible road crashes during the celebrations.

"Teams were mobilized to divert traffic and ensure proper parking apart from focussing on accident-prone areas," he said.

A couple of accidents occurred near Hanumanthuwaka and Airport areas in Vizag city. Still, the cause was attributed to the negligence of lorry drivers and had nothing to do with the New Year revelry.

A 23-year-old man was killed, and three others suffered injuries after their car hit a lorry from behind near the Airport area on Sunday morning. The deceased was identified as K Sanjay. The incident occurred when Sanjay and his friends in a car were returning to their hometown from RK Beach.

The driver of the lorry applied sudden brakes, resulting in the car hitting the lorry. In another incident, a 30-year-old man was killed after his bike was hit by a lorry near Hanumanthuwaka locality on Saturday night.