If the number of police prosecutions is any indication, then Kolkatans drove more recklessly on the last day of 2023 than they did on the same day in 2022.
Kolkata police said 1,570 motorists or bike riders were prosecuted on Sunday night for offences ranging from riding without helmets and jumping signals to drink driving. On New Year’s Eve in 2022, only 664 motorists had been prosecuted for the same offences.
“This year, two-wheelers were the biggest offenders. A large number of the riders were not wearing helmets,” said an officer in the traffic department of Kolkata police.
A resident of Gurusaday Road said he and two of his friends went to a pub on Park Street on two motorbikes on Sunday night. He was stopped outside the pub while returning and prosecuted as he did not have his helmet.
“They (police) did not notice me when I went inside. But as we were coming out, an officer came up to me and asked for my helmet. He also made me blow through a machine (for alcohol test). I cleared that test as I had not consumed alcohol. But I was fined Rs 1,000 for not wearing a helmet,” said the college student who requested not to be named.
Metro travelled across the city and found several motorcyclists and scooterists riding without helmets. Many were being stopped and made to pay the fine, while some were asked to undergo the breathalyser test.
According to police records, 557 two-wheeler-riders were prosecuted for not wearing helmets and 216 pillion-riders were booked for the same offence on Sunday night. Last New Year’s Eve, 243 two-wheeler-riders without helmets had been prosecuted. Only 95 of them are pillion-riders.
“The number of prosecution of two-wheeler-riders went up almost three times from 243 in 2022 to 773 in 2023,” said an officer in the traffic department.
The number of motorists prosecuted for drink driving has also increased manifold compared to last year.
The police said they had set up multiple checkpoints around the nightclubs and party zones to prevent drink driving. On Sunday night, 287 motorists were prosecuted for drink driving. The figure on last year’s December 31 night was 179.
On Sunday night, 311 motorists were prosecuted for rash driving. The count on New Year’s Eve last year stood at 187.
A senior officer said: “In many cases, we received phone calls requesting to let go motorists caught for drink driving. We did not entertain such requests. Allowing someone to drink and drive is putting his life as well as the lives of occupants of other vehicles and pedestrians at risk.”
There were also many who acted responsibly and hired chauffeurs to drop them home after partying.
S. Chatterjee, a resident of Jadavpur, said he did not want to take a chance. “I took my wife and daughter to a friend’s place where I had a couple of drinks. While returning, I called our driver to drive us home.... Driving after drinking is not right,” said Chatterjee, an IT engineer.