Drunk driving fatalaties on the rise in Andhra Pradesh
- | Wednesday | 12th December, 2018
Visakhapatnam: The involvement of drunk drivers in road accidents has been on the rise in Andhra Pradesh. The death toll in road accidents caused by drunken driving (consumption of alcohol or other intoxicants) have witnessed a 246% rise in 2017 as compared to 2016. Over 500 motorists in Vizag lost their driving license for three months in the past one year due to drunken driving, he added. The state stood second in the highest number of road accidents and deaths due to drunk driving after Tamil Nadu.The ministry of road transport and highway’s latest report on road accidents (accidents classified according to type of traffic violation) shows that intake of alcohol/intoxicants by drivers of various vehicles has resulted in 2,064 road accidents and claimed 156 lives and left 466 persons injured in 2017.The data also shows that in 128 road accidents, most of them involved drunk drivers, claimed 45 lives and caused injuries to 140 persons in AP, in 2016. Tamil Nadu topped the charts in death caused due to drunken driving with 403 deaths in 1,833 road accidents.“Suffering a jail term for three to seven days, paying a fine of Rs 2,000 and undergoing police counselling is not deterring motorists in Vizag and other parts of the state from continuing to drink and drive” says additional deputy commissioner of police (traffic wing) M Ramesh Kumar.Drunk driving is leading to over-speeding and resulting in road-crashes, he added.The number of people consuming alcohol has been rising in cities like Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada, but only a few people are opting to get a cab or have a designated driver to drive them home, says M Srinivas, a liquor trader here.Adding that drunk motorists have been causing trouble to the other road users, deputy transport commissioner, Vizag, S Venkateswara Rao pointed out that rash driving and drunk driving is the most common offence for suspension of driving license for three to six months.
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