Dr G Gururaj, Head of Department, Epidemiology, NIMHANS, on Friday said drunken driving had turned into a major public health issue and for every death because of it, 20 more people are hospitalised with serious injuries. “In India, 20 to 30 per cent of the lakh people killed in road accidents every year is because of drunken driving. Besides the obvious loss of life, the problem also has far reaching socio-economic repercussions. We need a strict and systematic approach, if we wish to control this menace.”
He was speaking at a two-day National Consultation Workshop on Preventing Drinking and Driving in India, which was inaugurated in the city on Friday. The meet has been organised to discuss the rising trend of drunken driving and possible preventive measures.
Partnered by Government of India, NIMHANS, WHO, World Bank, Karnataka State and Traffic Police and Global Road Safety Programme (GRSP) among others, the conference will come up with a plan of action to reduce this problem.
CEO of GRSP, Mr David Silcock, who also spoke at the meet, said that despite projections that the problem is set to increase by more than 80 per cent in the next 20 years, little was being done to address the issue by governments.
“Developing countries have a documented track record of being more vulnerable to drunken driving accidents. In this regard, India is a bad country in terms of road safety.
It is a leading cause of death among the age group of 5 to 29 years who are the driving force of any economy,” he said.
The speakers at the conference include a mix of experts in the field of injury prevention and trauma care, policy makers, senior police officials and representatives from the media to bring in all facets of the problem to provide a comprehensive list of recommendations.