KOCHI: Drink driving has always been a major menace on Kerala roads and it has caused 25 deaths and grievous injuries to 194 persons in 2018. Now to deal with it, Kerala Police have decided to follow in the footsteps of police departments of Victoria, New South Wales and Perth in Australia by introducing state-of-the-art buses to pick drink drivers anytime, anywhere and do detailed blood tests on the spot itself.
Though these buses in Australia and the US are known as ‘Booze Bus’, the state police will be coming up with a different name for it.
State Police Chief Loknath Behera said the buses will enable police to do the necessary blood tests on the spot and initiate appropriate legal action against the offenders. “These buses will have state-of-the-art facilities for alcohol and drug testing. We will find a different name for the bus as it will be inappropriate to brand it as Booze Bus in Kerala,” Behera said, adding these buses will provide complete privacy for conducting the tests on people who mainly object to the present mode of testing.
The state government has given its approval for introducing Booze Buses in the state. An order of the Home Department dated July 11, 2019 has sanctioned Rs 4 crore for improved traffic management and reduction in accidents that included the purchase of Booze Bus. Booze Buses will have the facility to identify not only drivers under the influence of alcohol but also different types of drugs. The decision to introduce these buses was taken with an aim to gradually phase out the archaic method of testing drink driving by asking the drivers to blow into an alcometer in public space.
“Currently, if the alcometer reading shows positive, the offender is taken to a nearby government hospital for a detailed blood test. This is much time consuming and inconvenient to people,” said another police officer.
By utilising the buses, police will be able to access national and state highways passing through rural areas. The proposal is to launch a bus in the state capital on a trial basis and expand it to other three corporations in a phased manner. The tender process to buy the bus will be initiated soon.
Facilities in the bus
It will have advanced equipment to conduct blood test in optimal, hygienic conditions.
It will provide a printed result based on the test
Paramedics will be on board to conduct the blood test
It will also have testing kits to identify drugs
kits will be able to identify at least seven types of drugs