Less accidents due to economic slowdown

THE economic slowdown may be a cause of worry for many youngsters in the city, but the traffic department and hospitals are not complaining.



They are not smiling at the crisis, but at the reduction of accident cases. According to a pub staffer, the economic crisis has confined guzzlers within the four walls of their homes. Not being able to afford high alcohol prices at pubs and hotels, youngsters are not venturing out, even on weekends.
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Crisis

The economic crisis and job insecurity has taken its toll on the otherwise booming party culture in the aspiring cyber city.

Hospitals like Sancheti Institute for Orthopedics and Rehabilitation are reportingng less accident cases on weekends.

Welcoming the trend, medical director of the Institute and consultant orthopaedic surgeon, Dr Parag Sancheti, told MiD-DAY, "The number of cases we used to experience on Friday and Saturday nights have gone down as compared to the number of cases we used to get about six to eight months back."

Dr Sancheti pointed out that the cases that came to the institute were mainly IT professionals and students between the age group of 18 and35 years.
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This year four bike and two car accident casualties were admitted to the hospital onu00a0 New Years' eve. But this number is less compared to last couple of years.

According to Dr Sancheti, patients who met with an accident in an inebriated state are difficult to evaluate.
"Doctors are cautious while treating patients in an inebriated state because it becomes difficult to differentiate whether the state of drowsiness areand slury speech are due to head injuries or alcohol," he said.

Strong message

The traffic department should also be credited for the drop in the number of accident cases. The Pune Traffic Police arrested 151 persons driving under the influence of alcohol on December 29.

This drive had sent out a strong message to the people who indulged in driving under the influence of alcohol.
As a result only 50 cases were registered on December 31. Sources in the traffic department said there was a considerable drop in numbers of drunken driving due to the special drive undertaken by traffic police.