BENGALURU : Command Hospital Air Force commandant Air Vice Marshal Dr MS Sridhar has urged that the permissible limit of alcohol in the blood be brought down to zero, while driving or riding.
The current permissible level is 30 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitre of blood. AVM Sridhar said at a World Head Injury Awareness Day event, at the National Institute of Mental Health & Neuro Sciences (Nimhans), that the limit be brought down to zero mg as alcohol acts as a brain depressant, leading to loss of judgment and control, and results in accidents in which not just the motorist, but even innocent people could get killed or injured.
Effectively calling for zero-tolerance on drink driving, the senior IAF doctor’s appeal gains significance from the fact that although 30mg is the set permissible limit for driving under influence of alcohol — above which a person can be fined for drink-driving — different people can react in a different way to differing limits of alcohol. A person driving or riding with just 10mg of alcohol in 100ml of blood could show a greater loss of judgment and reflexes than a person who has more than 30mg in that quantity of blood.
Experts have said that alcohol consumption, apart from reducing reflexes and forcing loss of judgment, also thins blood, resulting in a greater loss of blood in case of injuries. Besides, in case of death caused by a motorist under influence of alcohol, the accused motorist is booked only under Section 304 (A) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) (causing death due to negligence), which is punishable with two years in jail or fine, or both.
Dr Pratima Murthy, Director, Nimhans, highlighted research data from many studies which showed that head injuries following alcohol consumption resulted in greater lethality, injury severity and longer time to recovery. She emphasised the importance of the golden hour following head injury, and called for infrastructure to be in place to ensure that such victims should not have to travel long hours to reach Nimhans, and miss out on crucial time and end up with death or severe morbidity.
She said a proposal was made to the state government to develop a hub-and-spokes model for neurotrauma, and the need for providing pre-hospital care, triaging, acute care and rehabilitation.
Karnataka DG&IGP Praveen Sood called for a game-changing strategy of making children aware about the dangers of drink-and-drive, so they can make adults aware about the risks. He suggested that it is always better to target younger people and teach them about road safety before they get their driving licence. He, however, lamented that most people complied with rules only on account of fear of being apprehended by police, rather than concern for their own safety.