Close to 17,000 Delhiites have been caught for drunken driving since January, making the number the highest for any year in the history of Delhi Police.

While driving licences have been suspended in 2,200 cases this year, 2,869 were sent to prison to check the menace of drunken driving in the capital. More than 5,000 cases are still under trial.

Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic), Satyendra Garg said that they have already prosecuted 16,850 violations for drunken driving in the city.

He said, drunken driving is an important cause of accidents in the city. Mr. Garg said that prosecutions this year have been at an all time high and this has resulted in lesser accidents.

He said that maximum prosecutions before 2011 were in 2009 when 12,784 people were prosecuted in the entire year. He added that action against drunken driving has had a positive effect on accidents as it came down by six per cent this year.