Over 9,600 chargesheeted;1,699 jailed for drunk driving in

As many as 1,699 persons were sent to prison on charge of drunk driving in Hyderabad, with traffic cops filing over 9,600 charge sheets for the violations between January and April this year.

The Hyderabad Traffic Police (HTP), which regularly conducts a special drives against the menace of drunk driving has filed 9,648 charge sheets against drivers after they were caught driving drunk, a senior official said.

"From January till April this year a total of 9,648 charge sheets were filed against persons driving in an inebriated state under Hyderabad Police Commissionerate.

Out of it 1,699 persons were imprisoned for one to 30 days for drunk driving," Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Anil Kumar said.

A total of 2.53 crore fine was imposed on the drunk drivers.

The remaining violators were imposed with fines by the courts depending on the results of blood alcohol content (BAC) when they subjected to breathe analyser tests, he said adding as many as 32 women drivers were also caught during the drives against drunken driving and they were only fined.

"Drunken driving is dangerous not only to the drunken driver but it is also dangerous to the lives of other motorists and pedestrians.

That's why Hyderabad Traffic Police takes it very seriously and conducts special drives on different days to ensure that Hyderabad roads are safe," Kumar told PTI.

The courts suspended the driving licences of 681 people for a period ranging from three months to five years while driving licences of 69 were cancelled, he said.

The top traffic police requested the public to cooperate and not to resort to driving vehicles in drunken state as many accidents including fatal ones were reported earlier in the city.

On other traffic violations reported during the period of January to April this year, Kumar said around 11 lakh cases were booked for helmet rule violations.

Last year, over 25 lakh cases were registered against two-wheeler riders for not wearing a helmet, he said.

As many as 1,343 minor driving cases were booked, 4,800 cases for cell phone driving, 18,400 for triple riding and 18043 cases for improper number plates, he added.