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New year revelry: More drunk drivers caught than last year in Mumbai

The traffic police, however, claimed that it also showed how efficient the enforcement of law has been, due to which so many violators were caught.

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Policemen test drivers for alcohol content at Hughes Road near Babulnath junction on Thursday
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Despite Mumbai traffic police's stringent anti-drunk driving campaign, the city surely seems to be taking little notice. A total of 705 drivers were booked on the night of December 31 for driving under the influence of alcohol, and in December itself, 3,297 were caught for the offence.

The traffic police, however, claimed that it also showed how efficient the enforcement of law has been, due to which so many violators were caught.

Activists involved with NGOs working on road safety issues, however, said the rising number was a source of worry. "This year, more people have been caught on December 31, compared to the last two years. Also, the total number of drivers caught in 2015 has gone up, compared to the last couple of years. So it is evident that though traffic cops are booking drunk drivers, there is no fear among the drivers. It is obvious that traffic cops need to work on creating bigger deterrents in terms of the fines or at least a couple of days of imprisonment," said an activist.

Between 11pm on December 31 to 6am on January 1, the traffic police created 90 check points, where cops managed to book 541 two-wheeler drivers and 132 four-wheeler drivers. Of the 705 drivers booked, only two were women, and a total of 554 drivers caught were between the age group of 18 and 35 years.

"In the initial few months, we focussed on regulation of traffic. Now we are completely focussing on the enforcement. It is because of this that so many people were booked for drunk driving. Not only that, we also booked 59 drivers for rash driving, 1,135 for violating the no-parking regulations and 1,906 for riding two-wheelers without wearing a helmet," said Milind Bharambe, joint commissioner of police, traffic.

Bharambe added that with the strict enforcement and zero tolerance policy towards drunk driving, drivers are now well aware that if they take the wheel in a drunken state, they will surely be caught by the traffic cops.

Another senior traffic cop informed that in December itself, they had maximum number of drives conducted, and hence were able to book so many offenders. "We booked 3,297 drivers for drunk driving in December itself. In fact, 827 were booked in just two days – on December 30 and 31," he said.

The numbers
2013: 15871
2014: 16,013
2015: 18,035
11,177: Two-wheelers
5,969: Four-wheelers

Age-wise
18-20: 486
21-25: 4,517
26-30: 5,004
31-35: 3,500
36 to 40: 2,154
Repeat offenders: 21
Women drivers: 36
Total drivers booked for driving drunk in December 2015: 3,297
Drunk drivers booked between 11pm of December 31 and 5am of January 1 in Mumbai
2015: 705
2014: 523
2013: 568
2012: 840
2011: 739
Between 11pm of December 31,2015 and 5am of January 1, 2016
90 check points
705 booked
541 driving two-wheelers
132 driving four-wheelers
2 women
554 drivers between 18 and 35 years old

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