Traffic police personnel conducting checks to detect drunk driving, as part of the measures for a safe New Year’s Eve, at RP road in Hyderabad on Tuesday.
| Photo Credit: RAMAKRISHNA G
On New Year’s eve, police booked 2,873 individuals for drunk driving across Hyderabad, which was 2,972 in 2023. Amid strict vigilance, the city reported incident-free celebrations. Across the State, violators were slapped with challans worth ₹5.27 crore.
Drunk driving checks across the three commissionerates — Hyderabad, Cyberabad and Rachakonda — began at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, with the traffic and law and order police setting up check-posts at several junctions and flyovers.
According to the traffic heads of the three commissisonerates, a total of 1,415 people were booked for drunk driving in Hyderabad, the highest in the State followed by 839 in Cyberabad and 619 in Rachakonda.
Traffic police personnel conducting checks to detect drunk driving, as part of the measures for a safe New Year’s Eve, at RP road in Hyderabad on Tuesday (December 31, 2024).
| Photo Credit:
RAMAKRISHNA G
Under Hyderabad commissionerate, cases rose by 13.47% from 1,247 last year. Malakpet and Santosh Nagar led the charts with 96 and 91 cases each, while Charminar (20) recorded the least number of cases followed by Trimulgherry and Abids with 26 cases each, said Hyderabad Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) P. Viswa Prasad.
Of the vehicles intercepted, 1,234 were two-wheelers, 135 four-wheelers, 42 three-wheelers and four heavy vehicles, including lorries or trucks. A total of 594 individuals recorded Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) levels of over 100 while 35 recorded BAC over 300. Five were found with excessive levels of over 500.
Over 50% (716) of the offenders were aged between 19-30 years while another 416 were aged between 31-40 years.
In Cyberabad, on the other hand, cases declined by 31.34%, compared to 1,222 in 2024. A total of 49 teams conducted drunk driving tests and among those caught, 685 were two-wheelers, 131 were four-wheelers, 18 three-wheelers and five heavy vehicles.
According to the Cyberabad Joint CP (Traffic) Joel Davis, around 366 individuals recorded a BAC of over 100, 24 over 300 and four recoding excessive levels of over 500. Most of the cases were reported from RC Puram, Madhapur, Kukatpally, Miyapur, Narsingi, Alwal, Jeedimetla and Medchal.
Among the 619 caught in Rachakonda, 526 were two-wheelers, 64 four wheelers, 26 three wheelers and three were lorry or truck drivers. The majority of the violators were in LB Nagar (232) and Malkajgiri (230). Out of the total booked, 262 were between the age group of 21 and 30, 12 cases were for those aged 18 to 20 years, five cases for offenders above 60 years and two cases involved individuals below 18 years of age.
Over 5,000 officials were deployed for conducting drunk driving checks. The commissionerate recorded the highest BAC level of 339, while majority of cases (297) were booked in the 51-100 range, Rachakonda DCP Traffic 1 S. Malla Reddy said. Over 199 persons were found to have BAC of more than 100 while three were found to have BAC in excess of 300.
Interestingly, all those booked in Hyderabad and Rachakonda were men. The violators will be produced in court soon after filing of charge sheets. Their driving licences would be seized and sent to the concerned RTAs for suspension as per Section 19 of the MV Act, 1988.
Districts’ record
A total of 5,278 cases were booked across 29 police units in Telangana, surging by 17.65% from 4,486 booked in the past year, as per the data shared by the State Police. These cases were booked between 6 p.m. on December 31 to 5 a.m. on January 1 for both the years.
The highest jump of 305.56% was recorded in Asifabad which recorded 73 cases as compared to 18 in the past year. This was followed by Siddipet, where cases rose from 50 to 156, marking an increase of 212% and Medak with 104 cases as compared to 34, an increase of 205%, as per the information shared by the Telangana police.
Among the units that registered a decline were Jayashankar Bhupalpally (77.5%) where cases went from 40 in 2024 to 9 in 2025, Nagarkurnool (38.89%) with cases dropping from 18 to 11, Jogulamba Gadwal (10.53%) and Vikarabad (5%).
Published – January 01, 2025 01:15 pm IST
