IT IS no longer a case of whether you will be caught drink driving, but when.

And those who get behind the wheel after a drink too many should learn this new word - 'ring-fencing'.

It is what the Traffic Police will be doing to put the heat on drink drivers: Using roadblocks to seal off all alternative routes out of major drinking areas.

The number of drink-driving casualties fell by 83 to 278 last year, but the number of people caught drink driving - 4,009 - was a 7 per cent jump over 2006's figures.

Road traffic figures released yesterday also saw other worrying trends in a city-state getting more crowded with people and vehicles.

Motorcyclists continued to make up the majority of those killed on the roads, with 103 of them - one more than 2006 - killed last year.

The number of people caught running red lights also went up. Nearly 24,300 summonses, 87 per cent more than the previous year, were handed out.

Speed-related accidents jumped by 110 cases to 1,766.

In all, the number of fatal accidents and those that resulted in injury rose by 824 last year to 8,323. These accidents left 10,561 people dead or injured, 665 more than in 2006.

On drink driving, Traffic Police commander Assistant Commissioner Ng Guat Ting said yesterday that ring-fencing operations were likely to start in the Chinese New Year period. While catching tipsy drivers used to be a hit-or-miss affair for the police, ring-fencing would leave such drivers no way out, she said.

At the roadblocks targeted at drink drivers, checks will be done on all motorists leaving the nightspot clusters. These roadblocks will be set up over and above regular ones.

Watering holes will be grouped according to accident statistics and ground feedback, which means five to eight roadblocks at each cluster, with 10 officers at each.

Asked if such an exercise would pose manpower problems, AC Ng admitted it was 'labour intensive', but said the police would use 'creative deployment'.

She did not say where the clusters might be, but they are likely to include popular drinking spots Boat Quay, Clarke Quay, Orchard Road and the Havelock area. Coffeeshops and food centres will also be monitored, so blockades could be set up in the heartlands as well.

A 20-year-old full-time national serviceman who admits to drink driving said ring-fencing would 'definitely' stop him from taking the car out on his visits to pubs.

But then again, maybe not every time he drinks. 'Is it going to stop me? If I go to some quiet drinking place or a house party nearby, probably not.'

To recalcitrants like him, AC Ng had this to say: 'You can slip our roadblocks, but if you kill someone on the road, can you imagine the pain, grief and loss to the victim's family?'

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