On Tuesday morning, a drunk woman has driven an Audi at speed on the wrong side and hit a taxi on the Eastern Freeway, Mumbai.
Getting into the details, a women named Janhavi Ajit Gadkar (35), a senior vice-president (legal) at Reliance Industries, went to the ‘Marine Plaza’ hotel in south Mumbai and consumed six pegs of whisky. She started from the place in the late mid night and her drive on that night costed two lives, leading to a major accident of a family, driving in a cab.
What exactly happened?
10 pm
Janhavi Gadkar reaches Marine Plaza hotel in South Mumbai
12.40 am
She leaves the hotel in her Audi Q3, after having consumed six pegs of whisky
12.55 am
She climbs up the Eastern Freeway, on the wrong side
12.58 am
She narrowly misses two cars, in which one of them is Maruti Swift, near the Dockyard Road. The driver of Maruti Swift, who got to know the problem of the lady, turned his vehicle and followed her. As Janhavi is driving too fast without her knowledge, the driver had to follow the same speed.
1.10 am
The woman ploughs into a taxi, that is carrying a family, near Panjarapole tunnel in Mumbai.
1.20 am
The driver of the Maruti Swift reaches the scene of the accident
1.30 am
Bystanders poke holes in the inflated airbags of the Audi and extract Gadkar from the vehicle
1.45 am
Gadkar is driven to police station, in Chembur
2.15 am
Gadkar falls asleep in the women's cell
6.45 am
Gadkar wakes up, realises she's in a police station and breaks down. She complains of a hangover. According to the police, her last recollection is of entering the freeway from P D'Mello Road, on the wrong side of the ramp
9.30 am
The police record her statement
Along with the Motor Vehicle Act, Janhavi has been arrested under several sections of IPC. If convicted, she may be sentenced to ten years of jail. Currently Janhavi is under the police custody.
Can an initiative like this, would work out for the accidents?
On Wednesday, the Hyderabad Traffic police is conducting a special drive on various aspects like high beam/low beam, multi-toned horn /noise pollution and parking at lanes/by-lanes.
A special drive will be conducted to prevent the accidents by high beam and also through various other modes. A counseling will be given to the violators, at all the traffic police stations. The intention behind the counseling is to impart traffic education and be away from the accidents.
Andhra Wishesh view:
Janhavi case was registered at Mumbai. But the similar cases are getting registered every now and then, throughout the country. In fact, Hyderabad is not the excuse for such accidents. More than 5500 drunk drivers have been caught in just first three months of this year.
However careful the drivers are, they are been targeted by the drunk drivers, driving on the same road. So the book of driving skills should be included with another chapter, that deals with, how to overcome the drunk drivers on the road?
Finally, if the same situation continues in India, then the count of number of deaths and the number of accused would only be useful to the media for designing them interestingly and narrate the stories, but not to others.
So it would be better, if the government thinks upon the issue, not only when it is hot, but always, and thus, find a solution that prevents the accidents further.
Salman’s bail encouraged ‘drunk and drive’?
Salman Khan, getting the bail in ‘drunk and drive’ case is another encouragement to these type of cases. When a top celebrity like Salman gets the bail, what would be the answer of the court, if the convicted person in the ‘drunk and drive’ case asks, of why should I be punished when Salman was left free?
Should punish on public roads!
Punishing the convicted person on the busy public roads, where along with the media, a large number of people would also be eyed upon, might be a better solution. Through that way, the public might be aware of the seriousness in the issue and thus be away from drunk and drive case.
By Phani
