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Reader speak: How to stop drunk driving

February 05, 2010 12:46 IST

In response to the incident of a young Mumbai woman killing two people in a suspected case of drinking while driving early on Saturday morning, we asked readers to send us suggestions on what young people must do to stop such tragedies that destroy lives.

Get Ahead readers Shailesh Kotian, Abey George, Anil BP and Hemant Joshi wrote with their valuable suggestions.

If implemented these could surely help save a few lives to say the least:

Shailesh Kotian: Stricter laws

For first offence:

Immediate two-day jail sentence
Suspend license for six months
Fine of a minimum of Rs 10,000

For second offence:

Immediate one-month jail sentence
Suspend license permanently. Make the offender ineligible for driving
Fine of minimum of Rs 25,000

For accidents caused by drunken driving

Charge the offender with attempted/ second degree murder

Abey George: Hotels should hire drivers

Hotels/bars should provide a taxi with two drivers with the spare driver driving the (intoxicated) guest's car and dropping him home. The guest should be charged for the taxi and a little extra for the spare driver. The spare driver can return in the taxi to the hotel.

This is a practice I noticed in Japan and seems to be very good.

Anil BP: Move pubs out of city limits

The best way to stop drunken driving is to move all pubs and nightclubs to the outskirts of the city (like it is in most of the towns in US). The waiter has to keep track of how many drinks each table has been served and if it is more than
the limit, then monitor who is driving the car and find out his level of alcohol intake, if it is below the limit then it's okay otherwise the pubs official driver will drop off the guy(s). Have atleast 10-15 checkposts for checking drunken driving,
this will irritate the pubbers to the core and will avoid going out to the pubs. Ban alcohol in all nightclubs.

Hemant Joshi: Catch a cab

Whether anyone is injured or dies, drinking and driving must not be tolerated at all and first time offenders' driving licenses should be cancelled forever. Why do we have cabs in the city then unless some people consider it below their dignity to sit in any vehicle other than their own? And if you insist on using your own, why not hire a driver?

Reader invite

Share with us your suggestions on how we can eliminate drunken driving among young Indians and how we can bring safety to self and others on the road.

Write in to getahead@rediff.co.in with the subject line -- Stop drunk driving today! -- and we will publish them, right here. We want to hear from you!