Hyderabad: Motorists caught drunk or without a licence must ensure that either their spouse or parents accompany them for counselling by the traffic police. These motorists mostly used to bring their friends or relatives. The traffic police is cross-checking the identity of the attendant using Aadhaar card data. Earlier, the presence of parents was compulsory only in the case of minors.
Of the 100 motorists booked for drunk driving and driving without licence who were called for counselling at the Traffic Training Institute at Goshamahal on Saturday, only about 20 were accompanied by either their spouse or parents. “The intention is not to harass the family, be it the spouse or parents but we want to involve them in the overall effort to make motorists follow rules and reduce accidents,” said additional commissioner of police (traffic) Jitender.
A road accident impacts not only the motorist and his family but also other road users and their families, said DCP (traffic) A.V. Ranganath. He cited the accident caused by a drunk driver which claimed the lives of P. Ramya, her uncle and her grandfather. “It should act as an eye-opener for every citizen that they are responsible not only for themselves and their families but others also” he said. Spouses of a couple of moto-rists said they used to tell their husbands to quit drinking, or not drink and drive but the men ignored them.
