Drunk

A greater push against drunken driving – the law tightening the screws on offenders

In the wester countries (and in many of the countries in Asia such as Singapore and Hong Kong), there are huge pressures that prevent drunken driving. Drunken driving is treated as a crime that can bring in severe penalties on the person who is accused of the crime, and is justified by the fact that drunken driving is seen as a preventable action that can cause deadly accidents. Statistics also show that drunken driving cause many accidents the world over, many of which lead to casualties and also inflict economic damage.
Punishments for people caught when being drunk while driving can be stiff – it can mean the driving license being suspended for months, it can mean having to spend some time in jail (even if over-night), and it can mean severe fines. In India, however, there has not been much of a focus on punishments for drunken driving. There would be campaigns near New Year and other times of the year when there would be a lot more partying, but even then the fine system would be in place. Even if a fine is of Rs. 1000 or more for drunken driving, the impact of such a punishment on people is limited.
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Drinking and driving: how to check the problem

Drinking and driving is a universal problem, with different countries having different ways of checking / controlling this habit. A sizable percentage of accidents are known to happen after drinking and driving, and countries have different levels of enforcement about this habit. So, for example, if you take the case of countries such as Singapore or the US, drinking and driving is not cool. You can get into severe problems if detected. It is not unknown to have to spend a night in the slammer and have points deducted from the driving license if caught drinking and driving.
The same rules apply in India, and in the recent past, the Mumbai Police has been enforcing some of these rules to a stronger degree; they have actually got magistrates to jail some of the offenders and got licenses suspended for a period of time. However, this is just Mumbai. Other parts of the country have very little policing of drunk driving (or other road related laws), and there does not seem to be much effort ongoing in that direction either. In a lot of cases, people go outside to bars or restaurants to drink, and then drive home from there even if they have had too much to drink. There is very little custom of arranging for a non-drinking person to drive one home, or to take a taxi to go home.
Now, a High Court has jumped into the gap and made suggestions regarding setting up of safe drinking and driving options (link to article):

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Sending a drunk pillion rider to jail

For some time now, the Mumbai police has been waging an intense campaign against drunk driving, including the use of jail time (anywhere from 1 day to multiple days) as part of the measures against drunk driving. This had surprised many people since observing traffic laws (including road safety laws such as not drinking and driving) is a common problem that India faces, and not too many states had done serious prosecution of such cases (contrast this with the measures taken in states such as Singapore and the United States where you better not be caught drinking and driving). The high number of cases of accidents and fatalities where drunk driving is a factor are incredible; it is absolutely necessary that such campaigns continue.
Here is a case in Mumbai where the police prosecuted a drunk motorcyclist as well as the pillion rider for the crime of drunk driving and got them sent to simple custody for a period of 7 days. This punishment is the longest period of punishment for the crime of drunk driving so far in Mumbai, and the terms of the punishment were also enhanced due to a fine as well as the driving license of the motorcyclist being suspended for a period of 6 months (link to article):

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