HYDERABAD: “If you choose drink, do not drive. If you choose drive, do not drink. If you choose both, you may not be able to choose life” is Cyberabad police’s new message to tipplers, in an attempt to control drunk driving. Of the 144 deaths due to drunk driving reported in the Cyberabad Police Commissionerate till June this year, 71 were reported on weekends starting from Friday till Sunday, July 25, 2021.
Thirty-three of these deaths were reported only on Sunday, followed by 20 on Friday and 18 on Saturday. According to traffic officials, in most of the drunk driving cases, tipplers say they have consumed very little alcohol or they have come out to have food, only a few metres away from their house. However, CCTV analysis of accidents in drunk driving cases shows that even people who had consumed little alcohol lost control of their vehicles.
It was observed that tipplers have taken advantage of the Covid-19 second wave, during which drunk driving checks were not conducted and came out on roads in drunken condition. This also led to a spike in drunk driving incidents.