Police monitor drunk driving across country

The police started a drunk driving surveillance throughout the country on Friday and will continue until Sunday, said the National Police Board in a press release on Friday.

As many breathalyser tests as possible will be carried out in urban areas and on roads outside them during that time from Friday evening to Monday morning to detect drunk drivers, as well as instant drug tests at a low threshold to detect the use of other drugs.

In the surveillance, attention will also be paid to the drivers’ driving health.

“In addition to speeding, drunk driving poses the greatest risk to the lives and safety of road users”, said Police Inspector Heikki Ihalainen of the National Police Board of Finland.

According to preliminary data from 2022, a total of 36 people died and 395 were injured in accidents related to drunk driving.

During the last three years, every fifth road traffic casualty and every tenth injury has been caused by a drunk driving accident.