Are you thinking of using your car this weekend? If the answer if affirmative, then you must know that the Finnish police intends to carry out an intensive campaign of traffic surveillance in the whole country.
According to a press release published by the Police, intensified monitoring of drunk driving will be conducted specifically on Friday, 10 May and Saturday, 11 May 2019 with the available monitoring resources from all police departments.
Chief Superintendent at the National Police Board, Heikki Ihalainen, estimates that tens of thousands of breathalyser tests will be performed on drivers.
“It is not a good idea to drive under the influence of alcohol or otherwise intoxicated, even this weekend. The most important reason is, of course, that the risk to get injured and die in traffic increases significantly due to intoxicants. The risk for getting caught is higher this weekend”, says Ihalainen.
According to preliminary figure, during the year 2018 there were 30 fatalities and 495 got injured in drunk-driving accidents. According to Ihalainen, the number was fortunately lower than in previous years.
Despite this decline, the number of victims is never sufficiently low. In fact, many young people die or get injured in drunk-driving accidents. Of the fatalities and those injured, more than a third were persons aged 15 to 24.
“Personal injuries caused by drunk-driving tend to happen in the summer months. This is the reason the police is involved in preventing drunk driving already before the summer months begin,” Ihalainen explains.
Approximately 19,000 drunk drivers were caught last year.
