HYDERABAD: Here is some good news for teetotalers and bad news for boozers. The traffic police will now get tough with drunken drivers. Besides detaining the vehicle, the cops will book a case against the culprits under Section 185 of the IPC and impose a penalty of Rs 1,000.
Introducing the latest hand-held breath alcohol analysers, funded by the World Health Organisation (WHO) here on Thursday, C V Anand, Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic), said they would not hesitate to book drunken drivers under Section 185 along with slapping a fine of Rs 1000. With the number of road accident cases rising sharply in the country, especially Andhra Pradesh, the WHO launched Road Safety-2010, a pilot project in the city as part of its Global Road Safety Partnership (GRSP) initiative.
Speaking on the occasion, CV Anand said WHO had selected Hyderabad and Jalandhar to implement the initiative as the number of road accidents reported from the two places were alarming. It is funded by the Bloomberg University. “Every year, more than 13 lakh lives are lost due to road accidents. In India, 1.2 lakh deaths are caused by road accidents every year and in our State, as many as 2007 road accidents were reported this year so far. In these mishaps, 325 have lost their lives while 1,934 are injured,” the Additional Commissioner of Police said.
Identifying drunken driving as the major causative factor for deaths in India, the WHO has agreed to implement its road safety project as part of which it has provided 10 breath analysers, 220 digital cameras, 250 barricades with international standards, 550 reflective jackets and 450 LED batons to the police.
CV Anand said that Des Myers, who had worked with the Victoria Police, Australia for 27 years as Chief Inspector, has came to give training to the Hyderabad police as part of the pilot project.
The traffic police would train in trends in international road safety management, drunken driving law in Hyderabad, challenges in enforcement, principles of effective enforcement, safe check-point operations and practical training in breath testing devices.
For the first time in the country, the city traffic police are all set to use hand-held breath alcohol analysers to prevent road accidents. After creating awareness on drunken driving and its disadvantages to the public, they will begin utilising the breath analysers in a week, CV Anand said.
KT-4000P hand-held breath alcohol analysers
Police book drunken drivers when the measurement content of alcohol displayed is at least .3 mg of 100 ml. The KT 4000P breath analysers, made in Taiwan, offer professional users precise and quick breath alcohol analysis in a user-friendly and compact form. With its wide range of possible configurations, the hand-held instrument can easily be adapted to meet different international regulations and guidelines.
The KT 4000 P, specific to alcohol, is unaffected by other possible breath contaminations as it is designed with an electrochemical and fuel cell sensor. The breath analyser has printer and it provides the measurement content of alcohol after testing the drunken driver. It has a colour LCD touch screen and comes with a memory capacity to store 4,000 test results. The data from the device can be downloaded to a printer or PC.
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