the goan I network
PANAJI
As many as 127 people had to spend time behind bars in the first eight months of this year for driving under the influence of alcohol, after the Goa traffic police cracked the whip against the menace. With the scope of levying fines serving as a deterrent yielding limited results, the Goa traffic police are now increasingly resorting to producing drunken drivers before Judicial Magistrates and pressing for sending them to jail, if only to serve as a more potent deterrent.
According to Section 19 of the Central Motor Vehicle Act, 1988, and Section 21 of the Central Motor Vehicle Rules, 1989, drunken drivers can be sent to jail. The law also provides for fines of Rs 2000 and even cancellation of driving licenses.
A senior police officer told The Goan that since August 10, the frequency of JMFCs sending drunken drivers to jail has spiked.
Until August 31 this year, the number of drunken drivers who have done time has touched the 127 mark. Also, legal proceedings in as many as 1,123 cases are still pending before the JMFCs across the State, the police officer said. Around 2,366 drivers have been penalised with fines for driving after drinking beyond the permissible limits. These figures are from the period from January 1 to August 31 of this year. Police have caught 3,626 persons for drunken driving.
Recently, on August 10, not just the traffic cells but even personnel from police stations were involved in a massive operation against drunken driving across Goa. In four hours of the operation, the police despite having publicized their action, apprehended 315 drunken drivers.
With the graph of road accidents in the State heading north and drunken driving identified as the biggest contributing factor, Goa police’s top brass issued instructions to the foot-soldiers in the traffic cell to display ‘zero tolerance’. A hundred new alcometers were purchased and distributed to the various traffic cells across the State.
More recently as Tuesday this week a similar pan-Goa operation was launched and 104 drunk drivers were apprehended and penalised.
