On last year’s last night, helmetless bikers bigger issue than drunk drivers
Times of India | 2 January 2025
12 Kolkata: On last year's final night, cops clocked more helmetless riders than drunk drivers or rash motorists. On Dec 31, Kolkata Police prosecuted 600 people for helmetless riding, and booked another 282 for triple riding. E-challans were issued to another 1,234 bikers for riding without helmets and 121 others for triple riding after they were caught on traffic cameras. Cops prosecuted 237 for rash driving, and 214 were penalised and forced out of the driver's seat or off bikes for being under the influence of liquor.
Early checks from approximately 7 pm on Tuesday and identification of escape routes utilised by motorists culminated in the substantial number of prosecutions. Around 436 were arrested for multiple offences, including drunken drawl, harassing women, and assaults, while cops confiscated 38.6 litres of illicit liquor.
Between Dec 27 and 30, cops said they prosecuted 237 people for drink driving and 536 others for rash driving. They booked 4,609 people for helmetless riding and 652 for triple riding in these four days. However, in the barely eight hours from early Tuesday evening to the early hours of Wednesday, 214 people were booked for drink driving and 1,834 for riding without helmets.
The number is lower than last year's when 287 people were booked for drink driving. In 2022, the number was even lower, at 187. In 2018, though, the total number of drink-driving cases was 310.
Last year, only 773 bikers — 557 riders and 216 riding pillion — were booked for riding without helmets, and 311 were pulled up for rash driving. On the last day of 2023, cops seized 48.6 litres of illicit liquor while arresting 457 people for brawls and assaults.
In Bidhannagar, 92 people were arrested for drink driving on New Year's Eve, almost eight times the figure of 12 arrested last year for the offence during this time. Between Tuesday night and the early hours of Wednesday, another 64 people were arrested in Bidhannagar for other offences.
Both Kolkata and Bidhannagar cops had started tongue-in-cheek social media campaigns against unruly drivers, asking them to strap on seatbelts, not to drink and drive, wear helmets, behave properly on the road, and not engage in racing or rash driving.
"In the run-up to the new year, drink driving and dangerous driving cases after 9 pm were almost equal to cases of helmetless riding or triple riding. But on Dec 31, thanks to large-scale awareness, we found many opting to hire drivers after drinking. But we had a tough time reining in errant bikers," said an officer, adding they had a puja-like deployment on Dec 31, with checkpoints and teams with breathalysers. Cops were also out on bike patrol. Between Dec 20 and 30, cops prosecuted 1,11,429 motorists on an average of 10,130 cases per evening.
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