New Delhi Subway Riders Must Pass Breathalyzer

(Newser) – The New Delhi subway is so tired of drunken passengers starting fights at night that it's setting up breathalyzers at all its stations, reports the Hindustan Times. Those who blow over the limit can't board a metro rail car. It's believed to be a worldwide first for any subway system, but critics are asking an obvious question: Do turned-away riders try to drive home instead?

"For activists like us it was a difficult task to raise awareness among people to exchange their cars for public transport when drunk, especially in Delhi," says a member of an anti-DUI group. "Now, all that will come to naught." The Telegraph of India says the move is at least in part a reaction to the December gang rape of a young woman in New Delhi. Though she was on a bus, not the subway, her assailants were believed to be drunk at the time.