Interview with Vizag Police Commissioner B Shivadhar Reddy:
Q. What is the impact of ‘Arrive Alive’ campaign?
A: To be honest, we cannot quantify it in numbers. But the impact is visible with the increase in number of people wearing helmets, seat belts and also decrease in major traffic violations like drunken driving.
Q. How are the cases with regard to drunken driving dealt with?
A: We counsel by letting them know the consequences they will face if they drink and drive and show them how serious it is to break the traffic rules. For the first time in Visakhapatnam, three persons have been taken into custody for five days after being caught driving drunk this year. Normally, their vehicle is seized and they are counselled.
Q. As we have a few pubs and many bars in the city, it is very obvious that people move on vehicles after consuming liquor. How are you planning to handle the situation?
A: We are conducting special drives every night and booking many cases on daily basis. A few bars are already providing transportation to their customers so that their business does not go down.
Q. What are the ways adopted by the police to reduce drunken driving accidents?
A: We are educating public using presentations. Now we have presentations in Telugu also so that even an auto driver or a lorry driver can understand the presentation. All hospitals have been contacted and have been told to park their ambulances at different strategic locations rather than their hospital premises to enable them to reach accident spots at the earliest. We have also taken the help of FM radio stations in the city to educate public by purveying small tips on traffic safety at regular intervals.