You Booze, You Loose! Drunk Driving Law should be made STRICT in Mangaluru

You Booze, You Loose! Drunk Driving Law should be made STRICT in Mangaluru

Mangaluru: If you look at the speeding, driving rash, carelessness of the motorists at night, it is very much scary- and most of these people behind the steering are intoxicated, resulting in accidents leading to deaths or severe injuries. With so many drunk driving accidents taken place in Mangaluru in the past, what has the law enforcement authorities done to curb DUI (Driving Under the Influence)- basically nothing! And that is why we are seeing more and more DUI related accidents- and one such case is the ghastly accident that took place in front of KMC Hospital-Ambedkar Circle (Jyothi Circle) which claimed a life of an innocent auto-rickshaw driver, by a car driven by an intoxicated driver. There were empty beer bottles inside the car- and that’s the proof -that the driver and his friend were on a drinking spree, cruising around the City.

And in many of these drunk driving accidents, it is found that youngsters are at the helm of such violations- and our lovely city cops have turned a blind eye against such deadly DUI accidents. Couple of years ago, around 11 pm a medical student from a reputed medical institute who was totally drunk rammed his car into a parked motorbike, where two men who were talking to each other were killed on the spot- and the young ‘medico’ escaped from the scene. Next day when I went to police station to find more details of this case, I was surprised to note that the cops didn’t even filed a case, nor even bothered to check the vehicle/owner identity. I bet the cops were waiting to see whether the student belonged to a politician family or could be a son of an influential person. Bah humbug!

The “Drunk Man” Anish John

Regarding the last night’s drunk driving accident, did the cops perform a sobriety test on the driver? Did they check for his alcohol contents in his system? Did they check for the vehicle/driver identity? etc etc- are some of the questions many would ask, knowing the habits of our traffic department personnel. Even though there are a few road checks at night at prominent locations in the City, but all those checks are just for names sake. Like the checks done at Nanthoor -Kadri Road or at the Circuit House-Bejai Rd- the cops will ask you, “Yellinda Barudu, Yellige Hogudu?- (where are you coming from, where are you going?) – and when they get a false answer, you are let off? And specially these cops won’t even bother to ask if the driver is behind a wheel of a Mercedes, Audi, BMW or any high-end cars- only a poor guy driving a beat up Maruti Zen or a rider on a rusted two-wheeler will be subject to many inquiries etc What a society are we living in, where are law enforcement officials are corrupt?

Yes, we all know that Drink driving is a major cause of accidents, deaths, and injuries in India. Even though there are strict laws about drunk driving, but none of them are strictly enforced here- the laws are only in the books. Sources reveal that, In 2011, the United Nations had launched the Decade of Action for Road Safety with the aim of reducing deaths on the world’s roads. With stagnating overarching international road fatality figures, it may seem that this agenda is succeeding, however, a large group of middle and low-income countries, including India, continue to be home to ever-increasing accidents, injuries, and deaths- and for that matter, Mangaluru is on the list.

Many cities, including Mangaluru suffer from poor law enforcement for road safety norms in general, and drink driving in particular. Additionally, existing laws here do not meet the international public health organisation’s standards of best legislative practice because they do not differentiate between alcohol limits for the general population and novice drivers. DUI laws in Western and other Asian countries like China, Singapore, and Gulf nations are tough when compared to us. In USA, a DUI case will cost a fortune for the person who is booked-but here what we have is that you pay Rs 3000, if you have a powerful lawyer-or may be you could be imprisoned for two years-for killing a person or persons.

India has a disreputable record of road accidents. There is a nonchalant attitude among the drivers. They feel that they are the ’emperors of all they survey’,” -observing that the two-year term was not an effective deterrent. It is learnt even when the higher Court had earlier asked the Centre why it had not yet made drunk driving and also section 279 (rash and negligent driving) under IPC, punishable more stringently and definitely increase the jail term to more than two years- Nothing much has changed since then.

But these DUI cases have been caught in a web of laws and lack of it, to deal with levels of culpability. The lack of stringent laws express concern at the “menace posed by drunk driving” and the large number of accident deaths here. In spite of Drunk driving which is usually charged under section 304A of the Indian Penal Code as a rash and negligent act causing death and carries a maximum of two years in jail or fine or both- but seems like no one is taking it very seriously, because they know if you are rich and influential you can get out easily- and that’s what has been happening in Mangaluru too. The provision allows those charged under the act to get away with lenient sentences of up to two years.

Drunkenness contributes to careless driving where other people become their prey. The poor feel that their lives are not safe, the pedestrians think of uncertainty, and civilized persons drive in constant fear but still apprehensive about the obnoxious attitude of the people who project themselves as ‘larger than life’. Even if the police on the night beat see a bunch of revelers boozing along the roadside, they turn a blind eye against it. Just look at the youngsters/adults sipping on cold ones/cocktails along the stretch of Kadri park Road- and funny thing is that- a police station is nearby. Similarly at the Mary Hill helipad ground, revelers are seen boozing every single night (bunch of empty liquor bottles scattered on the ground is the proof), and for the fact, IGP Western range residence is nearby- how many has the IGP passed through this ground, and never bothered to stop the illegal drinking in open space. IGP Sir, please look into this situation.

And with all these bars/pubs taking births just like the “Nandini Milk Parlours’ coming up at every nook and corner, many youths are attracted to these establishments, and therefore incidents where youngsters are involved in cases of drunk driving are on the rise despite the police (in case) conducting regular campaigns to arrest offenders. Even if a sign is posted on the wall of these pubs/bars stating that “minors are not served alcohol”- who is checking for their age limit? More the young people as their customers, more the business and income- bar/pub owners are least bothered about the safety of their patrons once they drink and leave.

Even though the court had also suggested that IPC sections 304 A (culpable homicide not amounting to murder which attracts up to 10 years punishment) and 279 should be amended to include a specific offence of drunk driving, the government and the concerned authorities must consider levying very heavy fines on the drunken drivers. In cases of underage drivers the parents must be fined very severely and if the drunken driving involves a fatal accident, both the parent and their child should be punished severely.

Now that an innocent auto-driver and bread winner of the family faced a tragic death at the hands of a drunk driver , how many drivers or riders in drunken state in Mangaluru will be careful in future- I bet a very few, because they know that they can easily get out without getting into trouble when caught- because our lovely cops are so corrupt that they will wait to find out whether the driver/rider is rich or poor-only then they will file a FIR. Such cases have been reported in the past where local drivers under the influence of alcohol have killed or seriously injured people, but never got into trouble through political influence, bribing the cops and so on-they are still on the road, awaiting to kill or injure more Mangaloreans. It’s time for our cops to stop their corruptness and be strict with those drivers/riders who drive in the intoxicate state. Can we trust our city cops in handling and punishing DUI drivers without being corrupt?-is a question hard to answer! or you’ll never get an answer?

In conclusion, quoting Greek playwright Sophocles, “Laws can never be enforced unless fear supports them.” And it is high time the Centre moved on it, and enforce stricter anti-drunk driving laws immediately without wasting more time. What can we do to curb drunk driving? How can we prevent under-age youngsters from getting a driving license? Should those caught driving under the influence of alcohol and involved in serious accidents be given severe punishment (the existing law prescribes a two-year imprisonment but the Law Commission wants to increase it to ten years)? Should drunken driving be made into a criminal non-bailable offence? How can we save precious lives, of both victims and drivers? How can we cope with this serious problem? Post your comments/ideas on our web blog….

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