Out of the 14,000 cases last year, over 50% are registered against persons in the age group of 21 to 35 and a staggering 65% involve two wheelers.
The number of cases registered against motorists in the city has come down in the year 2009 following traffic police's special drive against drunken driving in 2008.
While the police had registered 16,450 cases of drunken driving in 2008, the number came down to 14,000 in the year 2009, a survey conducted by the traffic police has said.
"We have managed to curb the menace of drunken driving to a certain limit after the launch of the special drive. However, the number of cases is still alarming and it needs to be brought further down," Deputy commissioner of police (Traffic) SS Salunkhe told PTI.
Out of the 14,000 cases last year, over 50% are registered against persons in the age group of 21 to 35 and a staggering 65% involve two wheelers.
"Youth, who hail from a good educational background and are aware of the consequences of drunken driving, form a major chunk of the persons who are prosecuted for driving under the influence of alcohol," Salunkhe said.
Over 600 persons have died due to accidents caused by drunken driving in 2009.
Police however feel that it is often difficult to get a conviction in cases of drunken driving accidents.
"Punishment for drunken driving needs to be increased. Traffic violations are not considered serious offence and the violators get away with mild reprimand," a traffic police inspector feels.
When 21-year-old Alistair Pereira allegedly ran over and killed seven people in November 2006 under the influence of alcohol, the case generated huge amounts of publicity.
But Pereira was let off by a local court with a six month jail term.
After the Bombay high court increased his punishment to three years, Pereira secured bail from the Supreme Court.
Learning a lesson from this, the traffic police is now building up a strong case against Nooriya Haveliwala, who was arrested in January this year for allegedly mowing down two men including a traffic police sub-inspector and injuring four traffic police constables in an inebriated state.
Maharashtra government had also planned to introduce an ordinance with harsher penalties for drunken driving.
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