Kolkata: Motorists continued to flout rules even on the first day of new year with total 307 cases of rash and drink-driving. The first day of 2023 witnessed 206 such cases. This is a 67% rise in violations compared to last year.
Officers at Lalbazar said they continued their “zero tolerance policy” towards both drink and rash driving, the two major traffic violations that invite temporary licence suspensions. This has led to over 120 violations per day in the past 10 days, stated a joint commissioner.
In all, 828 people were booked for violations, mostly in the added areas of Kolkata, EM Bypass and Shyampukur in north. Last year, 346 persons were prosecuted.
Cops recorded 307 cases of riding without helmet and 154 cases of pillion riding without a helmet on January 1 this year. Last year, 119 bikers were prosecuted under these two heads.
Cops arrested total 341 people on January 1 and seized 14.8 litres of liquor, more than two times the quantity seized last year.
On the first night of new year, cops launched a crackdown at 50 locations across the city between 9 pm and 1 am. Cops arrested the offenders in several of these cases while around two-thirds of them are likely to be recommended for temporary suspension of licences.
However, the figures are significantly less than 2022 when the city had been reeling under the Omicron wave. Around 370-odd people were arrested for drink-driving and 1,128 others were prosecuted for rash or dangerous driving.
In 2020, 188 people were caught drunk and 211 others had resorted to dangerous driving.
Some citizens, though, rued that cops did not act strictly. Complaints against two-wheelers far surpassed others. Cops claimed that huge crowd in the morning had prevented organized checks at nakas with the force remaining busy in controlling the crowd. “Those who were not wearing helmets or were triple riding were spotted through CCTVs and prosecuted. By the time the night raids began around 9pm, most revellers were back home as Tuesday was a working day,” said an officer.