Bring rum curfew: JP Khan calls for midnight end to drinking

A rum curfew, enforced by law, which would see all bars, pubs and clubs closing by midnight, is what is needed in this country in order to curb drunk driving and the consequent misery and loss of life that comes with it.

In making this appeal yesterday, veteran Justice of the Peace (JP) Akbar Khan said he came close to tears while reading about a Debe family whose home at Wellington Road, was destroyed by a drunk driver who drove his car into the house. Alcohol, JP Khan said, is the mother of all evils and it is high time for various institutions in the country to act.

“Today, two families – not one – do not have their house they built and must have lived in since birth, because of alcohol,” Khan said. He was referring to drunk driver Nigel Jacob, who pleaded guilty last week Monday in the San Fernando Magistrates Court and whose sentence is pending, subject to compensation of approximately $50,000 to be paid to the family to rebuild their house.

The car Jacob was driving ran off the road and crashed into the front wall of the house owned by Vijanti Seudath, ending up in the family’s dining room. In court, Jacob admitted to drinking several bottles of Stag beer and then four shots of Puncheon rum. Khan, who has been a JP for over 54 years, told Newsday that TT is fast becoming a society in which drinking alcohol is fast becoming the norm.

To add insult to injury, JP Khan said, “We drink more alcohol at this time of the year than any other.” Just why a family should lose an entire house because of a person’s intoxication while in charge of a car, Khan said, must engage the attention of every priest, imam, pundit and politician.

“If we do not address the problem of alcoholism, we will be sending a message to future generations that is it acceptable to drink, as long as you do not get caught by the law,” Khan said.

He added that throughout his career in relating with the police and people charged with varying offences, it is his opinion that most of the crimes are domestic and stem from the presence of alcohol in the home and abuse of alcohol at public bars and pubs.

“That is why I am advocating that it should be made law that bars and pubs should close by midnight throughout the country in order to demonstrate that it should not be just a free-for-all when it comes to drinking. Bring on a rum curfew that is backed by law,” Khan said.

He further proposed that government, instead of increasing the price of alcoholic beverages, should impose a tax to go towards underprivileged children or create a fund into which people found guilty of driving under the influence should pay to compensate those who fall victim to their drunken driving.

Coordinator of the Police Road Safety Project, Brent Batson disclosed that there were 2,400 arrests for drunk driving so far this year and 109 road fatalities compared to 127 deaths last year.

He said more people are drinking late at nights, especially young people and are utilising technology to evade police capture. Batson said rum drinkers especially at night, are utilising digital apps such as Waze, on their cellphones, to locate police roadblocks in order to evade being caught and prosecuted.

This he said is preventing police from keeping tabs on drunk drivers. He reiterated that more young people are out at nights in pubs than in years gone by because of the technology available to avoid detection and prosecution of drunk driving.