Hyderabad: Over 1 lakh cases booked, 5,032 persons jailed for drunk driving in 2023

In 2024, the traffic police officials will continue to drunk driving checking. An indication was that on December 31 night, the police booked 3,000 people for the offence

Hyderabad: Through the year 2023, the police in the tri-commissionerates continued with their efforts to check the dangerous practice of drunk driving through regular monitoring and seeking tough action those found violating the rules.

Drunk driving checking remained a focused traffic violation during the year in Hyderabad, Cyberabad and Rachakonda with the police booking 1.06 lakh cases against violators. A total of 5,032 persons were jailed by the courts for the violation and driving licenses of around 4,000 persons were suspended by RTA authorities.

---

The traffic police teams are regularly conducting the drunk driving checking at different places in the city to prevent road accidents. A majority of the road accidents are attributed to drunk driving in the city.

“Teams equipped with breathe analysers conduct the checking at random spots regularly. Focus is more on accident prone stretches and to keep the element of surprise alive we change the checking points,” Rachakonda Police Commissioner, G Sudheer Babu.

After the person is booked the traffic police are ensuring that the violator attends the counselling along with at least a family member. “It is not to stigmatize them. Idea is to inform the family/ relatives the intensity of the violation and impact of their lives,” he explained.

In the courts, the police are filing charge sheets against those found to have violated the rules, and following up the cases. “In cases where a person is caught for the second time or multiple times, the courts are sending them to jail for a period between 1 day and 15 days or even more,” said a traffic official of Hyderabad police.

The traffic police are seizing the driving licenses and forwarding to the Road Transport Authority seeking cancellation of the licenses. So far the driving license of 3,956 persons was cancelled.

“Thousands of requests are pending with the transport department for cancellation of the driving license of persons convicted for drunken driving,” remarked another official.

In 2024, the traffic police officials will continue to drunk driving checking. An indication was that on December 31 night, the police booked 3,000 people for the offence.

Drunken driving cases 2023:

Hyderabad – 37,866

Cyberabad – 52,124

Rachakonda – 16,594

Driving licenses suspended:

Hyderabad -556

Cyberabad – 500

Rachakonda – 2,900

Persons jailed for drunk driving

Hyderabad – 3,782

Cyberabad – 979

Rachakonda – 271.