Hyderabad: Traffic police detained an ambulance driver for drunk driving during a special drive against ambulance misuse on Friday, March 7, under Panjagutta limits.
The driver has been identified as Hafeez. He had a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 120 mg, well above the legal limit.
Police seized the ambulance and registered a case.
Drunk driving is a punishable offence under Section 185 of the MV Act, with penalties including a fine of up to Rs. 10,000 and/or imprisonment for up to six months. Repeat offenders face the suspension of their driving licenses for a minimum of three months or permanently.
The Hyderabad traffic police emphasized the dangers of drunk driving, pointing out that alcohol impairs vision, reduces caution, and encourages risky behaviour, all of which can lead to accidents, often with fatal consequences.
Earlier, a case has been registered against a man after Hyderabad traffic police caught an ambulance transporting a pet dog with sirens blaring near Panjagutta.
The accused has been identified as Lakshminarayana.
During a special drive against ambulance misuse, police stopped the speeding vehicle and found a caged dog inside instead of a patient. The driver admitted that he was taking the dog from Himayathnagar to Ivy Hospital in Madinaguda for a neutering procedure.
Unable to justify the use of sirens for a non-emergency, the driver was left speechless. Police seized the ambulance and registered a case against him.
51 pc of ambulance drivers in Hyderabad misuse sirens: Police
A study conducted by the Hyderabad Traffic Police from July 23 to July 27 found that ambulance drivers in the city use sirens in only 49 percent of cases for genuine emergencies.
In the remaining 51 percent of instances, the sirens are employed primarily to navigate through traffic. The investigation involved checks on 310 ambulances, revealing a troubling trend of sirens being misused for non-emergency purposes, which has raised significant concerns about its impact on traffic flow.
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