Nearly all or 94% of drunk drivers caught by the police are men, said the chief of Latvian State Police Main Public Order Police Department’s Preventive Office Andis Rinkevics at a discussion organised on the topic of drunk driving and risks associated with it.
On Tuesday, the 24th of January, during a special meeting Latvian State Police presented last year’s study of drunk driving. Last year police caught approximately 3 000 drunk drivers, said Rinkevics.
The study itself was carried out in the first half of 2022. A total of 1 500 drivers were analysed.
Of all drunk drivers caught by the police, 94% were men. Around 30% of them were men aged 30 to 39 years. 69% were caught drunk behind the wheel of a light-weight car. Runkevics stresses that 42% of those drunk drivers were commandeering vehicles without a driver’s licence, whereas
about 5% of them have never had a driver’s licence to begin with.
26% of caught drunk drivers were caught drunk driving in the past. Nearly half of them were caught doing that multiple times. Rinkevics stresses that if these people are not caught in time, their recklessness only increases.
67% of drunk drivers were fined amounts under EUR 5 000. 18% were sentenced to community service and only 4% were sentenced to prison.
State Police Traffic Safety Department’s chief Juris Jančevskis said during the meeting that approximately ten drunk drivers are caught on average every day.
Also read: Drunk driving is a criminal offence in Latvia as of 25 November