35 drunk drivers arrested in the middle of summer in Latvia / Article

Between June 21 and 24, police arrested a total of 67 drunk drivers during intensified traffic stops. 31 proceedings for administrative offenses, 36 criminal proceedings and two proceedings for driving under the influence of drugs were initiated.

On the days of Līgo and Jāņi, June 23 and 24, the police carried out more than 18,000 checks on drivers. A total of 35 cases of drivers under the influence of alcohol were recorded. In 12 cases, administrative proceedings were initiated and in 23 cases, criminal proceedings were initiated.

Juris Jančevskis, head of the state police intervention department, told Latvian TV’s “Morning Panorama” that 23 of the arrested drunk drivers had more than 1.5 per thousand alcohol in their system .

“Looking at last year’s celebrations, these statistics improved slightly, but the numbers still speak for themselves. Drivers were not conscientious. (…) Last year, during the days from Līgo and Jāņi, a total of 42 drivers were arrested for being under the influence of alcohol, and this year there are 35 cases,” said Irbeniece-Chesle.

A total of 147 road accidents were recorded in the country during the festive period, in which 23 people were injured and two people died. The circumstances of the fatal accidents remain to be clarified.

“Both accidents took place in the Zemgale area and involved a vehicle that left the road and overturned,” Jančevskis said, emphasizing that criminal proceedings had been opened in both cases, which will also allow clarify whether the drivers of the vehicles were under the influence of alcohol.

According to him, on the days of Līgo and Jāņi, a total of 937 violations were detected in road traffic, of which 440 were related to speeding. “Seven aggressive drivers were arrested. This is also a sufficiently high number of speeding violations, which account for almost half of all traffic violations,” said the head of the Intervention Department of the state police.

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