“Continuing with our drive that began in June last year, we kept a strict vigil across the city on the New Year’s Eve. The crackdown started at 11:30 pm on December 31 and carried on till 5 am on New Year’s Day. A large number of drunk driving cases were expected and we booked a total of 338 persons for drunk driving. This is a record for one night,” said Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Vijay Kamble.

In addition to this, the police also booked 46 persons for rash driving and 45 persons for speeding.

“The persons booked for drunk driving were prosecuted by the police. A total of 189 offenders were produced in courts across the city, of whom 34 were sentenced to simple imprisonment for a period ranging from 1 to 3 days,” said Kamble.

According to figures provided by the traffic police, in 2007 a total of 12,528 persons were booked for drunk driving in the city, of whom 2,623 were sentenced to simple imprisonment under section 185 of the Motor Vehicles Act. Fines collected in these cases exceeded Rs 2 crore. A total of 47 persons were sentenced to simple imprisonment for rash driving. Besides this, 2,798 driving licences were suspended.

Since June 20 last year, when a concerted drive was launched by the traffic police, 11,078 persons have been booked for drunk driving, while 893 persons have been booked for rash driving. Since November 4 last year, 5,838 persons have been booked for driving without wearing a seatbelt. Since November 11 last year, 9,391 persons have been booked for driving without tail-lights and since December 7 last year, 1,539 persons have been booked for excessive honking and for musical reverse gears.

“The action taken is slowly bearing fruit. Comparing monthly records of 2006 and 2007, we have noticed a dip in the number of fatal and dangerous accidents that have taken place. Of course, we need to keep taking action against offenders and seek harsh punishment for them as a strong deterrence,” said Kamble.

5 get 3 days in prison in Thane on New Year
The Thane Judicial Magistrate sentenced five people to three days’ imprisonment along with a fine of Rs 2,500 each for drunk driving in Thane on the New Year’s Day, according to Dyaneshwar Chavan, deputy commissioner of police (Traffic) of the Thane Commissionerate.

“Apart from it, we booked 131 drivers for drunk driving on New Year’s Eve,” said Chavan. “We have also booked people for driving while talking on cell phones, driving without licences and so on.”

More than 300 traffic police personnel were deployed on the New Year’s Eve, he said. The Navi Mumbai police also booked 30 people for drunk driving on New Year’s Eve.