Bengaluru traffic cops book 330 drivers for drunk-driving on New Year's Eve

The menace of wheelies and drag races usually reported on flyovers and the Outer Ring Road (ORR) in the western part of the city were under control on New Year's Eve, cops said.

Bengaluru: Bengaluru traffic police booked a total of 330 people out of over 7,620 vehicles checked for driving under the influence of alcohol on New Year’s Eve and in the early hours of January 1.

The positivity rate was recorded at 4.3 per cent across the city, a little more than the positivity rate determined at 2.98 per cent in the drunk-driving study jointly conducted by the city traffic police, Nimhans, Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative for Global Road Safety and Johns Hopkins International Injury Research Unit earlier in 2023.

"The positivity rate is about 2 per cent more than the normal but this is expected at the end of the year," said M N Anucheth, the Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic).

On average, about 2 to 2.5 per cent of vehicles were stopped and tested positive for alcohol with alcometers in the eastern part of the city. "Across the east division, maybe 5 out of some 200 vehicles stopped by the police tested positive for alcohol. This is an average estimate, as some police stations would have checked many more vehicles. The positivity rate overall in the east division was not more than 2.5 per cent," said Kuldeep Kumar R Jain, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic East).

In the south, the positivity rate across stations stood at 3.8 per cent with 90 cases being booked after checking a total of 2,352 vehicles. The most cases were recorded were from Madiwala (17) and Hulimavu (15) station limits.

The menace of wheelies and drag races usually reported on flyovers and the Outer Ring Road (ORR) in the western part of the city were under control on New Year's Eve.

Known wheelie offenders in Kamakshipalya and western part of the ORR were taken into preventive detention but there were no other reports due to the closing of flyovers, said Anita B Haddannavar, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic West).

Here's a look at traffic accidents, violations in numbers in 1 year:

Fatal accidents: 880

Non-fatal accidents: 4,095

Number of people killed: 909

Number of people injured: 4,201

Registration of violations via contactless enforcement: 87,25,321

Registration of violations via contact enforcement: 2,49,624

Total fine amount collected: Rs 184.83 crore

Drunken driving cases registered: 7,055

Fatal crashes caused by drivers under the influence of alcohol: 16