HYDERABAD: A total of eight persons have died in separate incidents of suspected drunken driving in the stretch from Nagarjuna Circle to KBR Park since 2015.
In September 2015, four youngsters from Uppal, after completing the immersion of Ganesh idol in Saroornagar lake, had set out on a drive to visit the Bada Ganesh at Khairatabad and other pandals in Banjara Hills and Jubilee Hills. While returning, one of them, who was behind the wheel, crashed his car into the divider and then rammed into a shop. Three persons, including the driver, died on the spot, while a fourth person was severely injured at that time. Police suspected they were drunk and retrieved a bottle of alcohol bottle from the car.
However, as the person driving the car had died in the accident, the case was closed as ‘Action abated’
In July 2016, an engineering student K Shravil along with his three friends travelling in a car, all in a drunken condition, brushed the vehicle against the road divider, got flung into the air and landed on another car on the opposite side, killing a 10-year-old Ramya. A few days later, her uncle and grandfather who were also injured in the accident, succumbed. The case is now being heard in the court.
People lose control at the curve, say police
In these three incidents, apart from drunken driving and overspeeding, officials point towards the incline or curvature of the road where the accidents took place.
In the first case, the car went out of control at a curve and in Ramya’s accident also, the car lost control at the curve. In the accident which took place on Monday, the Porsche was at the inclined portion of the road when the accident took place.
When drunken drivers over speed amid low visibility, they tend to lose control of the vehicle, resulting in such accidents, the police said.
WhatsApp groups help many evade cops
Officials observed that despite being short-staffed, the traffic police personnel are conducting enforcement drives regularly to check for drunken driving every day and till extended hours, often reaching early mornings, on weekends. Drunken drivers are also devising new ways to evade these checks. The information about such drives is being circulated regularly in WhatsApp groups operated by drunk drivers. One of the newer techniques to evade the police is waiting till the personnel are done with their drives and leave the checkpoints. On weekends and special occasions like New Year’s Eve, the police conduct checks till early morning. However, despite that, drunken drivers find a way, noted a police official while adding, “The idea to rope in other wings is taken to conduct these checks more effectively.”