Thaindian News

Beijing, May 25 (IANS) A Beijing entrepreneur has launched a unique service for car owners who need help to drive them home when they are drunk.

The Chinese government has tightened the noose against drunken driving, but drinkers need not dampen their spirits coz here comes the good news!

For those who still want to get high after a hard day’s toil, the Ben’ao Anda Automobile Driving Service Co. provides driver-on-hire service to drop you home.

General manager of the company, He Jin says that his company receives more than 140 calls for the service daily.

“The increase in our business is partly the result of tougher penalties for drunken driving,” He told China Daily. Now the public is willing to hire our services, he added.

About 160 drivers work for He’s employer, most of them part-time. They drive car owners home when they get drunk.

The new traffic law, which came into effect May 1, stipulates drivers caught with 20 mg of alcohol or more per 100 ml of blood in their bodies will see their licences cancelled and have to wait five years before they become eligble to apply for a new licence.

Drivers caught with more than 80 mg of alcohol in their bodies will be jailed besides levying a fine of 2,000 yuan ($300).

Under the previous regulation, drivers had to pay a fine of up to 500 yuan and had to wait between three and six months to apply for a new licence.

After the new law was introduced, the number of drunken driving cases fell by 82 percent from May 1-15 in Beijing, compared to the same period last year, official figures show.

The driver-on-hire service is also picking up in other parts of China. In Hangzhou, the capital of China’s eastern Zhejiang province, the number of such service providers rose from 23 last year to 119 at present.

Beijing resident Xiao Zhe said he drives to nightclubs almost every weekend to booz. “Sometimes I call my friends to drive my car and send me home. But more often I ask driving service companies to do the job. It’s very convenient and many people around me are hiring these services.”

The cost of the service varies depending on the time and how far a customer wants to go. He’s employer charges 100 yuan for driving 30 km before 10 p.m. and 180 yuan after midnight.