Vizianagaram court levies penalty of Rs 10,000 on tipsy drivers

Visakhapatnam: Tipsy driving is turning out to be a menace and to curb drunk driving, a penalty of Rs 10,000 and suspension of driving license for three to six months is being imposed on violators by the authorities.
A court in Vizianagaram ordered 18 motorists, who were caught drunk driving, to pay a fine of Rs 10,000 each.
According to the Vizag city police, 33,707 drunk drivers were prosecuted in 2024, a rise from 21,376 in 2023 and 9,667 in 2022. Drunk driving is responsible for at least 6 to 10 percent of the total road crashes in the city, the police said.
However, police said that drunk driving cases have come down in several parts of the city, including the beach road.

Vizianagaram police chief Vakul Jindal said that the courts have been considering tipsy driving as highly dangerous and the courts are imposing a fine of Rs 10,000 on each violator.
The police said Section 185 of the MV Act says that motorists can be booked for drink driving if his/her blood alcohol content (BAC) is more than 30 mg per 100 ml blood. For commercial vehicles drivers, the permissible BAC limits are even stricter. Talking about the penalties for violation, for first offenders the court can issue a fine of up to Rs 10,000, imprisonment of up to six months and drivers can face suspension of their driving license, they added.
Despite the police stepping up vigilance, the menace is growing in some locations in north Andhra region, said senior police officer. If the police team is conducting checks at a location, these typsy drivers panick and try to change the route in a hurry causing accidents, he added.