In the wake of increasing loss of lives due to drunk driving, liquor bottles in the country may soon carry pictorial warnings against drinking and driving with an aim to warn tipplers about the potential risk they are for others.
The step is the result of a PIL filed by social activist Prince Singhal in the Delhi High Court, seeking pictorial warnings along with a clear and direct warning against drinking and driving on every bottle of alcohol.
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The Delhi High Court gave directions to the Food Safety Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) to do the needful in the matter.
Singhal stated, “On the directions of High Court, I met FSSAI officials and gave them four designs along with messages to be used as part of label on bottles. Pictorial warnings are critical. Having no language barrier, they are understood easily.”
He hoped that not only would pictorial messages serve as an alert or reminder to road users about the hazards of drunk driving but help in reducing road accidents. “India loses over 1,46,000 lives every year, of which 1,00,000 are due to drunk driving. It is also responsible for over 72 per cent fatal road accidents,” he said. With the introduction of warnings several countries brought down their drunk driving accidents and fatalities. They include USA, Kenya, South Africa, Thailand, Zimbabwe, Taiwan, Mexico, Turkey and many others, he added
According to Singhal, Indian roads continue to be one of the deadliest in the world. He said a survey stated “seventeen people are killed every hour in India -‑ one person dies every 3.5 minutes and at least 400 die a day,” adding that 5,01,423 accidents were reported in 2016, up from 4,89,000 in 2015.
Elaborating that pictorial messages alone were not enough to bring down fatalities, Singhal said, “We should adopt other methods to address drunk driving in a more comprehensive manner. Steps we can take in this direction are arresting of drunk drivers.” He felt drunk driving enforcement should be a strict and regular process with heavy penalties and fines up to Rs 25,000 among others. He was also not averse to the idea of making drunk driving a non-bailable offence, especially when it resulted in death and grievous injury.
Singhal pointed out that Tamil Nadu was the “worst offender” among the states, with 69,059 accidents annually, followed by Maharashtra (63,805), Madhya Pradesh (54, 947) and Karnataka (44,011).
