Chennai: No-contact drunk driving check welcome

CHENNAI: Amid the still raging Covid-19 pandemic, the city police are coming up with new methods to test motorists for drunk driving.
Henceforth, people driving or riding vehicles stopped for checks have to alight and blow into a breathalyser that comes with a hand-held stand fitted with a disposable plastic straw. It looks like a selfie stick and can be fitted to a vehicle or held by a police officer. After each use, the straw is packed in a polythene cover and disposed of by the motorist. The traffic police have also framed a standard operating procedure (SoP) to be followed by field officers.
Since October 1, when the lockdown norms were relaxed to a large extent, police were a bit hesitant to book motorists, fearing spread of Covid-19, before coming up with the new method.
From January 1 to June 30, 2020, there have been 603 accidents in the city, most of them due to drunk driving, against 1,229 accidents in the whole of 2019 and 1,268 accidents during entire 2018. In 2019, most of the 514 accidents caused due to drunk driving involved bikers.
Unlike in other violations, police personnel doing drunk driving checks are required to come close to a motorist, posing a risk to both of them. Now, under the new system, police can make sure that the breathalyser is not handled by multiple personnel. As per the new SoP, the motorist disposes of the straw he/she used and the police personnel present at the spot will only check the readings.
“After analysing the major cause for road accidents, it was found that drunk driving was the main reason. This can be avoided through stricter enforcement, which will result in saving lives,” said additional commissioner of police (traffic) N Kannan. “Whenever we tightened measures to check drunk driving, the result was that there were very few accidents,” he said.
The traffic police has intensified checks and were also focused on creating awareness among motorists instead of just letting off the violators after imposing a fine, he said.
Motorists too feel this is welcome move. “Earlier, our only scare was being subjected to a drunk-driving test. Though I was never drunk during travel, police subjected everyone to a test to find if they were drunk. Now, this system has ensured safety for both,” said Karhtik Raja, a resident of Saidapet.