The Sunday high: Drink & drive

KOCHI: It's official. Tipplers prefer Sundays to drink and drive. While traffic tends to be thin on city roads, checking by traffic police is also perceived to be lax on the weekly holiday.
But, apparently, they have not fooled the city police, who in a recent two-month drive discovered that the maximum number of people drink and drive on Sundays.
According to data on drunken driving cases over the last eight weeks, starting March 1 to April 26, the city traffic police booked 309 motorists for the offence in the said period.While they booked 209 motorists for drunken driving on five Sundays in March, it came to 100 in the three Sundays of April.
"We compared the data and found that drunken driving was more on Sundays compared to other days of the week. So we have increased police presence on roads on Sundays and we also conduct special drives," said assistant commissioner (traffic east) P P Shams.
A majority of those who are booked on Sundays were youngsters.
Police said that motorists booked for drunken driving on Sundays include two-wheel riders and three- and four-wheel drivers.
"Drunken driving cases are high on Sundays as many are tempted on the holiday to go for a drive after consuming liquor. Many motorists are booked for drunken driving while returning with their families after attending family functions and marriages on Sundays," said a sub-inspector with the traffic east police station.
Sundays are followed by Mondays, which accounted for 141 cases, and Tuesdays with 100 cases during the same period. As per the data, police booked 93 motorists for driving in an inebriated state on five Mondays in March and 48 motorists in the three weeks of April. It was 48 and 52 cases, respectively, in four weeks each on Tuesdays in March and April this year.
"The cases are high on Mondays because motorists caught on Monday morning are mainly those who have consumed liquor on Sundays. The breathalyzer can detect alcohol till up to 12 hours after consuming liquor. But it varies depending on the content of alcohol," the traffic assistant commissioner said. Meanwhile, the lowest number of drunken driving cases was reported on Wednesdays as per the data with traffic police who booked 70 motorists for the offence during the two-month period.