It's that time of year when jollity rides high, and common sense is at a discount. For years, policemen in this country had regarded drunk driving with an indulgence bordering on the irresponsible, even as the rest of the world got steadily tougher about dealing with the offence.

But the times are a-changing if plans the Mumbai Police are hatching up for New Year’s eve are any indication. A couple of thousand traffic police constables will be on duty to crack down on revellers who take to the wheel after hitting the bottle. This drive has been going on for a while now. City cops have already zeroed in on an estimated 11,000 offenders over the last seven months, some of whom have been provided with a month of state hospitality in local jails. Perhaps the new scrupulousness has something to do with road accidents in the megapolis registering a sharp decline. The Mumbai Police claims that in January there were nine accidents a day. By November, they had come down by a third. The link between drunk driving and accidents has been established conclusively enough. In 2003, for instance, when the number of traffic fatalities on US roads touched 43,222 — a 13-year high — it was estimated that 40 per cent of them had been caused by drunk driving.

According to the Indian Motor Vehicles Act, the permissible alcohol limit is 30 mg/100 ml of blood, but research shows that impairment of faculties begins before this level is reached. Therefore the zero tolerance approach of the Mumbai Police, accompanied by prompt and strict sentencing, is just what the doctor would have ordered. According to the law, a first-time offender can be sentenced for up to six months, while a second-time offender could even land up with a jail term of two years. Police personnel in other metros are also shoring up their act. They may sound like party poopers, but this crackdown is entirely appropriate and welcome. Remember, Princess Diana may have been alive and well today if her driver in Paris hadn’t had one drink too many.