#DrunkenDriving: Is A Week In Jail Before Bail The Answer?

Drunk Drivers and Law
Image used for representation only. Consumption of Alcohol is Injurious to Health

The City has been witnessing a steady rise in drunken driving cases, despite stringent checks by the Police department and constant warnings.

According to recent data released by the RTO (Pune), The city has registered a total of 6980 ‘drinking and driving’ cases in the period January to June 2018. This is an increase of 1500 cases over the previous year.

Pune's Drunk Drivers
Don’t Drink and Drive. Consumption of Alcohol is Injurious to Health

It is probably time we take a cue from Goa and mete out harsher punishment for these errant drivers.

The Goa Government has reportedly proposed an amendment under the Motor Vehicle Act, by which the police force would be able to keep the violators in custody for a period of 7 days before the offender gets is eligible to apply for bail. Whilst in other areas people could speak to their New Albany DUI lawyers, here the law is different.

Pune365 checks the pulse of Pune on adopting such a method to rein in the inebriated drivers on our roads.

Krutika Gaikwad, Lawyer opines, “It is must move that need to be followed in the city. There is no stop to the increasing mishaps and accidents. The move should be welcomed in the city considering the rise in the cases.

These cases are always sent to the court and there is no quick stern action which is taken against the violators. Court cases see several postponements before they arrive at the judgement which may take years.

Goa is not the first state to propose such severe punishments to the violators. Several cities like Banglore, Hyderabad, Mumbai already have harsh punishments to remedy this, then what is stopping our Smart City, Gaikwad quipped.

Ujwal Khanna, software professional says, “The city has the most lenient traffic rules. As a migrant from Mumbai, I feel Pune is very indisciplined when it comes to traffic.

Basic rules like wearing a helmet, adhering to the signal, and lane discipline is not followed in the city. Despite deployment of several traffic policemen at the signals in the city, rules are not followed.

Very often, I see police personnel not following traffic rules like wearing a helmet or lane discipline, then how do we expect the citizens to get disciplined.

They’re rarely seen doing late night patrolling and it no surprise that these ‘drink and drive’ cases are not getting controlled.

Ujwal supported the Goa move and believes that heavy fines and court appearance are not going to help control our lawless drivers.

In my opinion, this should not be only in the case of drink and drive, the traffic police need to act more proactively, in other traffic violations as well.

For example, if any person is found violating a traffic rule more than 3 times in a month, he should be kept in custody for at least seven days. Another solution could be the revoking of the errant drivers license for an entire year.

It is not about how many rules they apply. This is about strict enforcement and action against the violators, says Hetal Pandit, Call Centre executive.

If and when Pune adopts the Goa example our traffic police should ensure that they be uniform with the implementation and only then will it force the citizens to follow traffic norms.

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#All views expressed in this article are those of the individual respondents and Pune365 does not necessarily subscribe to them.

 

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Ankita Malekar