The crowd on Park Street on New Year’s Eve was possibly more than what it was three years ago, before Covid had hit Kolkata, but the number of reported cases of prosecutions for drink driving was not as much as police were expecting, officers said on Sunday.
The police said many New Year’s Eve revellers were cautious and did not drive after having a drink or two. Many others opted for hired rides to return home from a pub or a nightclub.
The police said they prosecuted 179 motorists for drink driving on Saturday. On New Year’s Eve in 2019, 188 motorists were booked for the same offence.
“There was a huge rush on Park Street on Saturday but we found that many stepping out of pubs and bars were not driving. This is a welcome change,” said a sub-inspector of police who was deployed on the party street on Saturday.
The Telegraph spoke to some motorists and learnt that three of them had either asked their spouses to drive or hired chauffeurs to drive them home.
“I faced a problem once in 2020 while driving after having a few drinks. Since then I never take the risk,” said Manish Sharma, a resident of north Kolkata’s Girish Park, who hires a chauffeur every time he goes to party.
Simantini Mukherjee, a teetotaller and resident of Elgin Road in south Kolkata, said she makes it a point to take the wheel when she and her husband return from a nightclub.
“We went to celebrate the 31st night at a friend’s place in Golf Green. Like any other day when my husband drinks, I drove my family back home last night,” she said.
However, despite the sense of awareness among many, several motorists who were stopped for the breathalyser test resisted the cops and tried to pass through saying they did not need to blow through the machine.
The most common excuse for not undergoing the breathalyser test, the police said, was: “Do you know who I am? Let me go.”
The driver of a private car that cops on the Park Circus connector near Tangra were trying to stop for an alcohol test sped away after hitting a constable around 11.19pm.
Traffic constable Tapan Chakraborty, of the Tiljala traffic guard, suffered head and nose injuries and had to be rushed to hospital.
The police said they were trying to establish the vehicle’s identity, which could not be ascertained till late on Sunday evening.
According to figures provided by Kolkata police, 148 two-wheeler riders were prosecuted for riding without helmets, 95 pillion riders were booked for not wearing helmets and 187 were prosecuted for rash driving.
The police said a drive against drink driving was carried out till early on Sunday at multiple locations in the city.