This Diwali, a new campaign will help you reach home safely if you are drunk
This Diwali, a new campaign will help you reach home safely if you are drunk
Let the booze flow this festive season, someone will make sure you reach home safe.
In a city where close to 1,500 people die every year due to drink-driving, a new initiative is being launched to curb related accidents.
More than 50 pubs and restaurants and 100 taxi operators from the city are planning to ensure party-goers do not drive under the influence of alcohol.
Called Designate-a-Driver this Diwali, the campaign is aimed at helping people make the intelligent choice of driving sober by raising awareness about drink-driving at pubs. As part of the drive, local cab services will provide party-hoppers a drop home.
"The campaign includes putting up posters at some of the most popular bars and pubs in the city, educating guests about the consequences of driving after drinking and also providing numbers of local cab services so that guests can reach home safely," said Prince Singhal of Community Against Drunk Driving (CADD), the brain behind the campaign.
"We will also put up informative signages at major markets across the city to inform shoppers about the need to drive sober," Singhal added.
The initiative will advise people to hire a cab or use a car pool when going out for a drink, take turns to drive if one friend has had a drink too many or ask the pub manager for a taxi to take you home.
The initiative also wants law enforcement agencies to launch prosecution drives at strategic places, specifically outside pubs and bars, to catch offenders. It also demanded forming 38 teams of traffic police armed with Alcometers (to judge the level of alcohol in a person's body), a metropolitan judge and a doctor equipped to carry out blood tests, impose fine and jail offenders immediately.
Drink but don't driveOutlets which are part of the campaign include Smoke House Grill, Olive Bar and Kitchen, Ai, Blanco, Shalom, Lap, Manre,u00a0 F Bar & Lounge, Hookah, Cafu00e9 Morrison, Ego Thai, Storm, Qashqai, Mismoh, Dawat Khana, Pebble Street, QBA, Moksha, Nothing Authentic, Spaghetti Kitchen, Joy luck Moon, Tantra , Moets, RPM, Turquoise Cottage, Ruby Tuesday, Blues, Aura, Bercos, Barbeque Nation, Haze , Park Balluchi and Opus Lounge.
Fatal cocktail
>>Drunk driving caused nearly 85% of the 12,000 accidents that occurred in the city in 2008
>>It is responsible for the highest number of deaths among kids below five years and breadwinners in the age group of 21 to 34 years
>>Three out of 10 drivers in Delhi are drunk at night
>>17% of government hospital beds are occupied by victims of road accidents caused by heavy drinking
>>Drink driving accidents rise by 20-25% during festive season
