13,400 Europeans caught drink-driving

Over 850,000 European motorists were checked in the traffic police operation “Tispol Drink and Drug” just in a single week between December 10th and December 16th. The Europe-wide clampdown on drink driving saw police check over drivers in 23 countries by Tispol, the European Traffic Police Network that is co-financed by the European Commission.

The legal alcohol limit for drivers varies from country to country, but the operation caught more than 13,400 motorists with positive drink test. Most drunk drivers are reported to be in France, followed by Spain, Germany and UK. As opposed to them, Denmark, Czech Republic and Norway have less than 100 drunk drivers caught in that week. Most checks were conducted in Spain, twice more than in Germany. But there is disturbing fact, that some 737 gave a positive test to drugs while driving. The biggest number, 299, is in Germany, followed by Sweden, France and Italy.

"The fact that in a single week we caught over 13,000 drink drivers on Europe's roads shows the clear need for operations like this", said TISPOL President Adam Briggs. Around 40,000 people a year are killed on Europe's roads and drink driving is one of the major causes. The European Commission aims to reduce that number with over 50% by the end of this decade.