Prompted by the observation that most of the accidents happen at the dead hour of night or early hour of the morning because of extreme tiredness of the drivers, the Kolkata Traffic Police has started offering hot tea to the men on the wheels.

The decision of the Kolkata Police came only a few days after a truck carrying a dead body hit a stone-chip laden truck standing by the side of the road killing 18 people and injuring many more. Though initially it was suspected that the driver was drunk, the post-mortem report said that there was no alcohol in the stomach.

“As the driver died it is impossible to find out what really happened that night, but from our experience it can be said that there is every possibility that the driver fell asleep while driving. This occasionally happens with tired drivers driving on a highway. In most of the cases they drive the whole night and at the dead of the night in most of the cases they feel sleepy. Tiredness is their biggest enemy,” a senior police officer said.