Campaign to check drunk driving

City motorists, who tend to drink and drive in the festival season, are getting lessons in safety and help on driver and cab services for reaching homes.

Through its week-long awareness campaign of ‘This Diwali Don’t drink and Drive’, NGO CADD – Community Against Drunken Driving – is reaching out to drivers and trying to inculcate the practice of designating a driver during this Diwali festival.

The NGO plans to reach out to five lakh people for which it has tied up with over 100 bars and pubs across the city to educate patrons not to drive themselves after drinking and offer free mocktails, driver and cab services and other benefits to help young people make an intelligent choice of driving sober, said a CADD official.

“The idea behind the campaign is to reach out to the public about the dangers of drunk driving during the festive season and how careless choice of drunk driving can lead to tragedies. This campaign would spread the message on how one can celebrate and be safe by not driving drunk,” said Prince Singhal,  founder of CADD.

Delhi witnesses more 1,500 road accident deaths every year due to drunken driving every year, an average of five deaths every day, according to CADD.

Singhal said with one in every five Delhiite indulging in drunk driving on an average day, the festival of Diwali becomes even more hazardous for road users when the masses indulge in drinking and driving during numerous celebrations, card parties and get-togethers.

With underage drinking on a high and rising by almost 18 per cent every year, the number of drunk drivers rises by shocking numbers every year, he said.

The number of drunk driving tragedies have been rising in the capital which witnesses five road accidents deaths per day – the highest among 53 cities in the country. About 70 per cent of the accidents can be attributed to drunk driving.