During our young days, growing up with a fondness for music, I loved Ghulam Ali’s gazal
“Hungaama hai kyon barapa? Thodi si joh pi li hai! Daaka toh nahi daala, chori toh nahi ki hai!”
It is a lovely gazal , however, people seem to live this gazal on the road these days. It would have been perfectly fine for them to drink, if they DID NOT drive after drinking. Accidents are a matter of irresponsible behavior and care a damn attitude on most part of the person behind the wheel. The effect of alcohol is such that judgement is completely inhibited. Also, we all optimistically underestimate the risk. Individuals do not believe they are dangerous on the roads and believe others are a danger on the roads.
Nobody respects the law and life in our country is cheap unless a celebrity or politician is killed.The tweeterati have tweeted enough about the recent acquittal of a celebrity for drunk driving. If we take the official statistics for drunken driving published by The Hindu, cases have increased from 38,665 in 2009 to 55,138 in 2014. As of 1/11/2015 40,000/- drunk driving cases were booked. This is taking about the official statistics. The same newspaper has reported that over eight thousand people have been killed in drunk driving over the past five years. These should be treated as “murders” and not accidents.
Take the case of Mr Karthik Somaiah, manager in a private firm who in 2009 ran over five people at Indiranagar while returning home after a party. This according to the police was NOT Karthicks first offence. On January 26 1998 ,a 45 year old gentleman came under the wheels of a two wheeler of Mr Karthik on Residency road. Police however could only trace the FIR and according to the newspaper sources ( The TIMES Of India, Bangalore, Friday jan 30th 2009) , No other documents could be traced.
A few days back : Oct 31, on Sarjapur Road, Bangalore, a person with blood alcohol content over 17 times allowed limit, rammed into 2 people coming out of a midnight mass. The victims had no time to react, such was the speed of the car which came out of the blue.Highest number of accidents due to drunk driving are reported on Saturdays.
A sizable chunk of drunk driving cases are repeat offenders. As per The Hindu, November 1st 2015, 14,280. A sizable number indeed! What does this tell us about the drivers? Such people should be strictly off the roads. Whether it is a poor truck driver or a rich and famous celebrity.
We, at The Arundhati Foundation are glad about the aggressive launch of a program against drunk driving by the Bangalore Traffic Police ( BTP ). Given the season of revelry coming up at the end of the year, it is a timely step taken by the BTP.
A Big Thank You! to the BTP, and Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) M.A. Saleem for taking drunk driving cases seriously, and creating this campaign to increase awareness and deter violations. To create awareness the team flagged of a mangled car on a truck, which was driven by a man in inebriated condition with a message ‘I was driven by a drunk’. Special pamphlets have been printed, and will be distributed.
The campaign was launched on 12 Dec at the Opera Junction on Brigade Road, and will run through the rest of December. I attended the launch, and signed my name on the Pledge board.
BTP has also urged people to take responsibility for others in their group who may drive under the influence of alcohol. The message is “Friends don’t let friends drive drunk“. In matters of drunk driving, it is best not to take the chance. Not only for the benefit of the person who is drunk, but also for the safety of others on the road. Have a designated driver, a buddy who will pick you up, or use a cab. There are plenty of options available now – use them!
Stay Alive and Help Stay Alive; Don’t Drink And Drive!
More pictures here
