Imprisonment for drunk driving cases to resume soon in Hyd; over 7,000 cases pending

Hyderabad: Imprisonment for all pending drunk driving cases in Hyderabad is likely to resume in the next two-three months, said joint commissioner of traffic, Hyderabad, A.V Ranganath in conversation with NewsMeter.

There are approximately 7,000 pending cases in Hyderabad as of March 2022. These cases have been piling up since 2014.

Imprisonment for drunk driving cases was cancelled in view of COVID-19 for the last two years. "Since the pandemic has come to an end, we have written to the legal authorities to resume imprisonment for drunk driving cases. We will be taking strict enforcement on the same," Mr. Ranganath said.

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

Mr. Ranganath also informed that the Hyderabad traffic police have begun conducting frequent checks to catch drunk drivers, particularly after midnight.

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 with 29,484 cases.

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.

"We have observed that several accidents have been registered after midnight where the driver was driving under the influence of alcohol. Strict enforcement will be followed to avoid drunk driving and accidents as well. An analysis of accident-prone areas is currently going on, and more traffic police will be deployed in the area soon," Mr. Ranganath said.

2022 kicked off with drunk driving cases

Around 2,498 persons were caught driving drunk on New Year's Eve in the limits of Hyderabad, Cyberabad, and Rachakonda police commissionerates. The maximum cases were booked under the Hyderabad commissionerate limits followed by Cyberabad and Rachakonda, according to the traffic authorities.

Around 1,265 cases were booked under the Hyderabad commissionerate, 873 in the Cyberabad commissionerate, and 360 in the Rachakonda commissionerate.

On 1 January 2022, a cyclist, Nithin Agarwal, succumbed to his injuries after he was hit by a drunk driver. The 44-year-old cyclist was critically injured after a speeding car hit his bicycle near Botanical Garden in Kondapur on New Year's Eve. According to the police, the driver's blood alcohol content was 186 on the day.