Chennai: Following the fatal car accident in which a drunken woman lawyer’s negligent driving killed two persons in Mumbai last week, the Chennai police may start checking women drivers in the city for drunken driving. In the wee hours last Tuesday, corporate advocate Janhavi Gadkar, 35, who under influence of alcohol, drove her Audi in the wrong direction and rammed into a taxi killing two persons and injuring four others in Mumbai.
As of now, the cops who hold breathalyzers at intersections to check drunken driving concentrate only on male drivers. “Ours is an orthodox city. So we prefer to believe that women drivers in Chennai do not drink and drive,” a traffic police officer said. But in the wake of the Mumbai tragedy, “If needed we will also start checking the woman drivers,” he added. There is no need for policewomen to check woman drivers, as there is no need for physical contact, the officer added.
Even in Mumbai the police started checking women drivers only after the last week accident, he noted. The Chennai police had booked over 55,000 motorists last year for drunken driving but had been letting the women drivers without checking.
Many men returning home from parties allow their wives, even though they had also consumed alcohol, to drive because the police here hardly check the vehicle if woman are found
driving. But police believe that women in Chennai are very responsible and never drive their vehicle after consuming alcohol.
