More than 350 drink-driving cases in one weekend

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By Minna Passi
     
      So far, this year has proved to be no less moist behind the wheel than any other.
      Last weekend, Finnish police up and down the country picked up no fewer than 362 persons driving under the influence of alcohol or pharmaceuticals or both.
      Of these, 39 were drug- or medication-related cases. J
      ust over 300 DUIs were recorded between 6 p.m. on Friday and 6 p.m. on Sunday.
     
The cases may have been different but the pattern was all too familiar.
      Passenger seriously injured in one-vehicle accident in Vihti; driver recorded 240 mg of alcohol per 100 ml of blood (the limit for drunken driving is 50 mg of alcohol per 100 ml of blood, or a minimum of 0.22 mg per litre of exhaled air. The limits for aggravated drunken driving are 120 mg and 0.53 mg respectively).
      Young man in Helsinki riding moped while under influence of cocaine.
      Middle-aged man spends Mother's Day driving with 325mg in bloodstream in Hämeenlinna...
     
Helsingin Sanomat requested from the Ministry of the Interior's Police Department details of all the DUI cases recorded during the past weekend.
      A normal weekend was chosen, when there were no police crackdowns.
     
In the light of the statistics, it was a very typical weekend. Last year at the same time 346 DUIs were recorded.
      Drink driving statistics follow the same pattern from one year to another. In the spring and summer, there are more drunk drivers than in the winter, and about 60 per cent of those who are caught are taken in for questioning. About 90 per cent are men.
      During the quiet winter weeks, 350-400 drunken drivers are caught. In the spring the number rises to 550 cases a week, and in the summer it hits about 600.
     
There is a clear spike in the statistics during Midsummer week, when about 800 drink drivers are picked up.
      It is often said of a drink driver and a drug abuser that they are untrustworthy. On the contrary, they are enormously reliable. They say what they say, but they do what they have always done”, notes Heikki Seppä of the Helsinki Traffic Police.
      Seppä estimates that 80 per cent of drink drivers have some kind of substance abuse problem.
      In cases of DUI, recidivism is a big risk”, Seppä goes on.
     
Last year a total of 27,600 cases of DUI were reported.
      By May 11th, a total of 9,184 people were caught driving while intoxicated, of whom 1,421 were for intoxicants other than alcohol. This actually shows a slight decline from last year.
      According to advance data from the review board of traffic accidents, 86 people died in traffic accidents involving a driver who had been intoxicated. Of the fatalities, 79 were intoxicated themselves, or were passengers in a car driven by someone who was intoxicated.
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 14.5.2008


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Drunk driving may also result in confiscation of new vehicles (26.10.2007)
  Government proposes new measures against drunk driving (5.10.2007)
  Drunk drivers give wild readings in breathalyser tests (22.8.2007)

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