PANAJI: Goa traffic cell has started a drive against drunken driving and has challaned 468 persons within a span of just three weeks and collected Rs 2,000 from each violator, revealed the Superintendent of Police, traffic and North SP, Mr Arvind Gawas.

Mr Gawas informed that the main aim behind kick-starting this drive especially in April and May was to curb and control the rising trend in road accidents due to drunken driving, particularly in the coastal belt during Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.
On Sunday (April 24) itself we have booked 16 cases and collected Rs 32,000 from them, he said.
Mr Gawas informed that the drive has been initiated by the Director General of Police, Mr Bhim Sain Bassi, after going through the past annual road accident record; analysis has revealed that during the months of April and May, most accidents occur in the coastal belt and many precious lives are lost.
Speaking to ‘The Navhind Times’, he stated that out of 300 and odd  deaths per year, nearly 30–35 per cent are youngsters and most of these accidents occur on the roads close to Anjuna, Baga, Candolim, Calangute, Sinquerim and Colva beaches.
The traffic police are also thinking to arm the local police in the coastal belt with alcohol meters and due to this they have asked for a set of another 6 alcohol meters from the government so that they can also book the cases in absence of traffic police and help the department. At present, the traffic police have 16 alcohol meters. This device provides ready reading on the meter once a person is asked to blow on it, he informed.
“This drive is undertaken only during the evening hours and remains in force for nearly 2-3 hours or sometimes more also depending upon the picnickers in the coastal belt. The crowd is more during these months especially because of school holidays and summer vacation and many locals flock to the beaches for enjoyment and fun during evenings.”
Mr Gawas said, “Once a case is booked, the police arrest the driver and take the custody of the vehicle and the next day he is produced before the judge in the court of law and vehicle is not handed over to him by the court. The court is empowered to either give the vehicle to his relatives or the owner, depending upon the nature and status of the case as there is every possibility of him repeating the same thing.”
“In this drive traffic police are little strict as we (traffic police) want to reduce the road accidents and save precious lives and instill a fear in the minds of the drivers,”
he added.