ROAPDOL Snatches Over
4000 DUIs In 24 hours
ROADPOL's latest 24-hour enforcement marathon. 3 JUNE - 4000 instances of driving under the influence (DUI) of alcohol and/or drugs were registered during
The marathon was conducted at the end of May's ROADPOL “Alcohol & Drugs” operation and represented massive 24-hour checks along the roads of 12 member countries.
Results
According to the reports more than 167.000 drivers were checked throughout Europe during the day and night of the operation. Of these 3.724 drivers were under the influence of alcohol and 358 under the influence of drugs. Although the legislation in European countries differs slightly, driving under the influence is punishable in all of them countries. Some countries have a 0 limit (zero tolerance), while in other countries a low content of breath alcohol level is still allowed.
Practice
“And that is not without reason. It has been scientifically proven that driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs significantly increases the chance of being involved in a collision. And this is unfortunately proved in our daily policing practice. In many collisions in which the police arrive at the scene, it appears that a driver of a vehicle was driving under the influence”, comments ROADPOL Operation Working Group Secretary Henk Jansen of the Police of the Netherlands.
Effect
According to statistics the use of alcohol and/or drugs before or while driving a vehicle leads to a large number of collisions with other road users or fixed objects every year. The number of road users who are injured or killed in these collisions is also high. “In particular, drivers of the 18-25 “young driver” age risk group are often unaware of the dangers of drug driving. They often do not consider the fact that even small amounts of narcotics make drivers unfit to drive. It is also underestimated that driving ability can be impaired even if drugs were consumed days ago”, Jansen further informs. According to him, preventing and combating DUIs can reduce the number of collisions and thus also the number of serious injuries and deaths in traffic.