Inspired by the success of International Olympic Association's (IOC) anti-doping agency, WADA, United Nations has decided to set up an international regulatory body to coordinate and monitor the fight against drunk-driving. This proposed foundation will be called World Anti-Drunk Driving Agency (WADDA) and apart from promoting safe & sober driving, it will also set up a strict regulatory mechanism to control drunk driving which unfortunately causes lacs of deaths all over the world.
At a press conference held at its headquarters, Secretary General of UN, Ban Ki-Moon said rising number of deaths and injuries due to drunk driving is a major cause of concern and needs to be tackled globally on war-footing. He said that setting up of WADDA was a step in that direction and pleaded that national and local governments should cooperate with the proposed agency to help curb the menace of drunk driving.
Ban Ki-Moon admitted that UN was inspired by the success of World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in tackling the problem of doping in sports and said the agency will establish a similar regulatory mechanism to catch irresponsible drivers who drive under the influence of alcohol.
He said that WADDA would establish World Anti-Drunk Driving Code, which the agency will try to implement all over the world, in coordination with local governments. Under the proposed code, everyone with a driving license in the country that accepts the code will be required to compulsorily inform WADDA about any plan of consuming alcohol before the start of their drinking session. They will have the option to inform the agency either online or through SMS.
A key element of the agency's monitoring plan will be setting up of globalized Automatic Vehicle Locating System (ALVS), through which it will be possible for the agency to track vehicles of prospective offenders. Under the code, all vehicles will be compulsorily required to install GPS through which the agency will be able to monitor them.
Under the plan, as soon as the agency receives information about the beginning of a drinking session from any of its millions of registered drivers, it will start monitoring their vehicle(s) for any movement for a period of about 8 hours or the number of hours during which he or she is expected to remain inebriated, whichever is higher. To calculate the possible number of hours in state of drunken stupor, registered drivers will also be required to provide information about the brand of alcohol they are planning to drink and also the expected quantity they are likely to consume. A specially designed software will then calculate the number of hours he or she is likely to remain in inebriated condition. If during this period of observation, the vehicle shows any movement, the agency will immediately send an alert to the concerned local police station and instruct them to apprehend the vehicle and test the driver for drunk driving.
In coordination with local police forces, WADDA will also maintain a special task force whose main job will be to randomly land up at pubs or bars, take breath-analyzer tests of the occupants and check whether they have informed WADDA of their drinking session. Anyone who is caught three times not reporting their drinking plans to WADDA will have to forfeit their driving license immediately.
An official of UN, on condition of anonymity, said that the organization was confident that WADDA's scheme would be successful. "We were startled to see top sportsmen and women of the world earning millions in remuneration willingly allowing WADA to infringe their privacy. We have no doubts that after initial grumbling about the intrusiveness of this code, majority of people will fall in line." He added, "There may be million bigger problems that people are only happy to ignore in their day-to-day lives, but scream loudly about one minor problem on newspapers and television channels and you will see millions demanding instant solutions - even if the proposed solutions are draconian in nature needing curtailment of their personal liberties."
