The Finnish police carried out last weekend an intensive campaign to monitor drunk driving nationwide. Driving controls intensified at all police stations between Thursday 6 June til Sunday 9 June.
According to Heikki Ihalainen, Chief Superintendent of the National Police Board, about 39,000 breath tests and 78 drug tests were made during this campaign, which took 2,000 working hours.
The outcome was that the police discovered 136 persons driving under the influence of alcohol and 32 doing so under the influence of other drugs. These are amounts that inspector Ihalainen considered "quite common during the summer".
There were also other 821 drivers who were found driving after drinking alcohol, but were not punished because they were under the limit of punishment. According to Ihalainen, this amount is "at the same level" as one month before, when a previous intensive drunk driving control was made.
The authorities warn that alcohol and driving is always a bad combination, which can have disastrous consequences for people's safety. Specially at this time of the year, since personal injuries related with drunk driving are mainly concentrated in the summer months.
"The police are actively monitoring drivers especially during the summer, when there are plenty of drunk drivers and the resulting accidents", Ihalainen said. Last year about 19,000 drunk drivers were caught in Finland.
