- Study conducted among 10,000 cab drivers by NGO Community Against Drunken Driving (CADD)
- Of the 55.6% that admitted drink driving, 27% said they accepted bookings in a highly inebriated state
- Most of them said they drink on the job due to long working hours.
Party-goers are always advised not to ‘drink and drive’ and to use a cab or taxi to return home safe.
But going by the shocking findings of a survey, even that may not save you from accidents.
The study conducted among 10,000 cab drivers by NGO Community Against Drunken Driving (CADD), which has been working in close association with the Delhi Police for 15 years to end the menace, found that 55.6 per cent of them regularly drink and drive. Of them, 27 per cent accepted bookings in a highly inebriated state.
The findings also raise serious questions about the safety of female passengers who board cabs alone. The drivers admitted that they usually drink in their waiting period, but if a booking comes they do not refuse it.
The survey was conducted between 2pm and 1am. Of the respondents, 62.1 per cent of them conceded that they consume alcohol in their vehicles.
Meanwhile 55.6 per cent of the drivers admitted to driving drunk: the main reason being that consumption of alcohol is common among drivers with many of them being habitual drinkers.
Drunk drivers are no less than ‘suicide bombers’, a city court said in June, while refusing to show leniency to such a person by upholding his jail term.
Road safety expert and CADD founder Prince Singhal said: ‘The research was conducted at 50 prominent public locations of Delhi including airports, railway stations, Metro stations, malls, commercial hubs, office complexes and university areas. 893 out of the 10,000 were drivers of black-and-yellow taxis and 9,107 were cab drivers of radio and app-based cabs.’
Singhal added: ‘A key finding of the survey was also that Police enforcement on cab drivers was negligible in Delhi, Gurugram and Noida region and that cab drivers if at all prosecuted were usually charged for speeding, red-light jumping and rash driving but rarely for drunk driving.
‘Since cab drivers are duty-bound to drive sober it is even more pertinent that the police conduct alcohol tests on them especially during 11pm to 1am on a regular basis.’
Some of the well-known areas where the survey was conducted include the vicinity of IGI airport, railway stations at New Delhi, Old Delhi, Nizamuddin Central Park, Connaught Place, Nehru Place office complex, GKI and II, New Friends Colony, several top malls, DLF Cyber Hub, DLF City Centre, Ambience Mall, Sector 18 market Noida, Mall of India, Great India Place and Logix City Centre.
