ISLAMABAD, Nov 18: If a proposal floated by the Islamabad Traffic Police (ITP) sees the light of the day, drunk drivers will not be able to walk away after paying just a Rs300 fine: they will be banned for lifetime.
The ITP has approached the ministry of interior to bring an amendment to the list of (traffic) violations in the motor vehicle ordinance by adding a provision to punish the drunk drivers, said Asmatullah Junejo, the acting senior superintendent of the traffic police, while talking to Dawn.
It may be noted that in February this year the parliament empowered the interior ministry to make or change any traffic related law on the proposal of the police concerned to address practices which were dangerous for the road users.
The ITP are hopeful that they would succeed in introducing the law against drunk drivers in the capital city.
Currently, the traffic police issue a ticket worth Rs300 under section of 40 of the schedule for an offence not mentioned in the ordinance.
In practice, suspected drunk drivers are taken to hospital for blood and urine testing to ascertain if they are under the influence of alcohol. But the producer is lengthy as the police have to wait three to four weeks to get the report.
Besides, the expenses to take such drivers to hospital and send the samples to the chemical laboratory have to be borne by the police.
As a result, the police usually avoid pursuing such cases unless the drunk drivers are found involved in creating a scene on the road or caused an accident.
The acting SSP was of the view that the practice of driving vehicle under the influence of alcohol was dangerous in a country where there was no proper law to deal with such offences.
“We have no law to deal with such a violation which is considered equivalent to murder in the western countries,” he said. In the West, anyone caught driving under the influence of alcohol is punished with a lifetime driving ban, he added.
In a summery sent to the interior minister, the ITP expressed the concern that the number of drunk drivers in Islamabad was increasing.
Although the traffic police apprehend such drivers, lack of availability of necessary equipment and legislation hampered them in taking action against such drivers, the summery added.
“It is, therefore, suggested that there should be a new legislation whereby a criminal case against drunk drivers can be initiated,” the summery said, adding the licence of such a driver should also be confiscated permanently.
Moreover, the traffic police also demanded that it should be provided with alcohol testing machines and saliva testing strips so that a suspected drunk driver can be checked on the spot.
