‘Designated driver’ to check drunk driving

Hyderabad, July 25

Concerned over increasing number of accidents involving drunken drivers, the police in Hyderabad and Cyberabad commissionerates are mulling to introduce “designated driver” concept.

Under this system, those attending night out parties or going to bars and pubs will have to designate a person among themselves who will abstain from drinking so that he can safely drop them back.

The police officials in Hyderabad and Cyberabad East commissionerates were working out modalities for implementing the system. The police started thinking about this concept in the wake of a shocking accident, which killed three persons of a family earlier this month.

Ten-year-old Ramya, who was returning home from her first day at school, and her uncle and grandfather were killed while her mother and another uncle injured when their car was hit by another car which was being driven by an engineering student under the influence of alcohol.

The accident occurred during day time in upscale Banjara Hills and the car being driven rashly by Shravil rammed into a divider and fell on Ramya's car on the other side of the road. The police inquiries revealed that Shravil and five other friends accompanying him in the car were all minors and they had liquor at a bar while returning from a cinema theatre.

The police have since tightened rules for bars, directing them not to serve liquor to anyone under 21.

"This (designated driver) will be very helpful in preventing accidents and thus savings lives," said Cyberabad East Police Commissioner Mahesh Bhagwat. The information technology clusters of Hitec City and Gachibowli, housing many global tech giants, come under the limits of Cyberabad East.

He voiced concern over the mounting number of drunken driving cases being detected during the special drives. As many as 30 cases were detected after a late night programme at Gachibowli Indoor Stadium on Saturday. - IANS