Beating drunk driving checks of police with WhatsApp?
Yes, some Bacchanalians in Hyderabad are making use of the cross-platform messenger service not to get caught by police while driving under the influence of alcohol. And it looks like that their number is going up steadily .
It is not yet clear who conceived the idea and created the first WhatsApp group of this kind. Christened ‘Only DnD updates’ or DD Alert, these groups are popular among tipplers.
Members of the group keep alerting others by posting messages of locations of drunk driving checks conducted by police in Hyderabad, Cyberabad and Rachakonda police commissionerates. ‘Chk on 100 ft road, Madhapur from Hitech city to Madhapur’ is one such message.
This was posted by a member who saw the drunk driving check by police at Madhapur from a distance. “Advantage of WhatsApp group is that all members learn about the checking instantaneously,” a person who received that message said.
Avoid route
Naturally, they avoid travelling in that route if they are in an inebriated condition. Breath analyser tests by traffic police during the week-ends — sometimes in the middle of week and suddenly — created a scare among people getting behind the wheel after a few shots. Initially, a person caught for drunk driving used to get away by paying fine. As it was not yielding results, traffic police are presenting them before magistrates. Depending on the blood alcohol content found in the breath-analyser test, courts are awarding them imprisonment ranging from two days to three weeks.
This prompted tipplers to find means to escape the police radar. And WhatsApp groups with alerts about such inspections came handy for them.
Interestingly, a person is not included in such groups that easily. To become a member, a person has to be introduced through one of the existing members. If a member is found to have forwarded any alert to others, he is simply deleted from the group. Strictly, no messages like ‘hi’ or ‘good morning’ are entertained barring drunk driving checks related information. If one WhatsApp group members reached maximum limit, another is created with a different name.
