Challans issued to women for drunk driving has seen a marginal increase according to Delhi Police records. Compared to nil cases of female drivers booked for drunken driving in the year 2017, 10 females were booked till October 30 of the current year.
While data indicates that women are more disciplined in following traffic rules, some are wondering whether police are showing leniency when dealing with women drivers.
According to police records, in Delhi, the ratio between female to male driving licence holders is 1:75 and only 11 per cent of total vehicles registered at the regional transport offices are reportedly owned and driven by women.
The huge disparity among the sexes in regards to owning and driving a vehicle is clear. However, even after taking this into account, data from January 2018-June 2018 shows that 18,753 men were issued challans for drunk driving. For the year 2017, 33,343 men were booked for drunken driving while no female was booked in the same year.
Data from January 2018 till the month of June shows that only 24 women were issued challans for jumping traffic signals in comparison to 1,15,046 issued to men. In 2017, in comparison to 1,67,867 men who were booked for jumping signals only 44 women were booked.
In cases of over speeding 71,424 men were booked till the month of June this year, while only 138 females were issued challans in this regard. The data of last year shows a shocking disproportion of 1,39,471 men booked in compared to 514 women.
Whether this data simply states that women are better off at following traffic rules and regulations in contrast to men or that there is a disproportion in Delhi Traffic polices' handling of the female drivers' is up for debate.
Special Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Taj Hassan stated, "Generally we do see that there is a large difference between female to male drivers who are booked for drunken driving. Compared to female drivers, in Delhi, the numbers of male drivers are vast. Of the female drivers, it is often seen that only the economically well-off are caught for drunken driving, which is also very marginal number," Hassan said.
Aakash Chaudhary, a resident of North Delhi stated, "While it is true that in comparison there are less female drivers than male drivers in Delhi. Especially at night, there is a sparse amount of women drivers, and often times they are accompanied by male companions. However, I do believe that generally the police are comparatively lenient to women drivers. I have heard an acquaintance say that when they see police at checkpoints when they come back after a night-out, they have in some instances switched places with female passengers to stop getting caught."