Police drive fails to curb drunken driving menace in Temple Town

The Tirupati Urban Police’s drive against drunken driving, launched in 2010, has resulted in a reduction of number of deaths in related accidents but has led to an increase in the revenue through fines with more number of cases booked against the culprits.

This shows that the drive has rather failed to curb the drunken driving.     

According to the statistics available with the Tirupati traffic police, in 2010 the number of accidents due to drunken driving was 187, with the death toll being  20.

In 2011, the number of accidents came down to 177 but the toll went up to 29. The respective figures for 2012 were 142 and 26 and till May-end 2013, below 50 and six.

However, the number of cases of drunken driving has been increasing over the years.

In 2011, the police booked 253 such cases and collected fines to the tune of Rs 7.55 lakh. In 2012, the number of cases went up and the fines collected amounted to a whopping `45.97 lakh. This year (till June 14), 1,360 cases have been booked and Rs 24.95 lakh have been collected as fines.

Incidentally, the traffic police launched a special ‘Traffic Fortnight’ in the town from June 1 to June 15, involving volunteers from among the general public, NGOs, students and NCC cadets.

The drive resulted in the police booking cases of 398 drunken driving and collecting fines to the tune of Rs 6.21 lakh from those high on booze while driving.

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