In view of revelry during the ensuing Christmas and New Year, the traffic police have embarked on random helmet-checking drive at undeclared spots during daytime along with random checking drive against drunk driving in the night.
Deputy Superintendent of Police (traffic) Vivekanand Thakur said this they have taken the initiative as a run up for Christmas and New Year.
Thakur said the drive against drunk driving will start in the evening and will continue till late in the night. Necessary equipment breathe-inhalers will be carried so that they may slap penalty against the violators.
“We are serious on the issue. The drive will help in checking road mishaps. Drunk driving is one of the major reasons of road mishaps during the festival. We are also issuing a general appeal asking people not to drive vehicles — two and four wheelers — under the influence of alcohol,” said deputy superintendent of police.
He said that traffic cops manning the approach roads have been trained in breathalysers test. The Jamshedpur Police have acquired a score of breath analyzers to drive wedge between the lethal combination of drinking and driving. Traffic Police gets six of them while the industrial towns get two each. If caught driving under the influence of driving above the permissible limit, one can be fined up toRs 2,000.
In case of penalty not paid, the violator’s vehicle can be seized and in grievous cases, the driver can face imprisonment for a period of six months to two years. Officials informed that traffic cops equipped with breath analyzers henceforth would check impromptu at static locations.
He said the drive against drunk driving will be carried out in front of all the five traffic police stations like Golmuri, Jugsalai, Sakchi, Bistupur, and Mango. He went on to inform that they will check both the two-wheeler riders as well as the four-wheeler riders .
Significantly, the traffic police today carried out helmet checking on Station-Burmamines Road, a spot where the helmet checking had never carried out before. During the drive, the traffic cops not only checked without helmet riders, but also checked triple-riding and also the registration papers of the vehicle owners.
Notably, the steel city has over five lakh two-wheelers and over one lakh cars. During Christmas as well as new year festivity, a large number of bike riders as well as car owners tend to celebrate the festivals by coming out of their homes.