1,574 intoxicated drivers held during intensive police drive in July

The police caught a total of 1,574 people suspected of driving while intoxicated in road traffic during a drive across the country from July 3 to July 30, said the National Police Board in a press release on Wednesday.

Of these, 910 were suspected of having drunk alcohol only, 143 were suspected of mixed substance use and 521 persons were suspected of having used some other narcotic substance.

The police reported a total of 37 offences involving the operation of a watercraft while intoxicated.

The monitoring campaign was against the background of July seeing far more accidents resulting in injuries due to driving while intoxicated than other months between 2020 and 2022. Recent years have seen a July average of 80 victims in collisions due to driving while intoxicated.

The police breathalysed a total of 63,746 drivers on land and water and carried out 1,204 mouth swab tests in July.

“The July monitoring campaign was successful. Although there were over 10,000 more breathalyser tests than last July, the police caught around 200 fewer people suspected of driving while intoxicated,” said Chief Superintendent of the National Police Board Tuomo Katajisto.

Based on preliminary report of offence data, there were 106 collisions involving driving while intoxicated compared to 125 in July last year. Only one collision resulted in a fatality and 27 resulted in injuries. This compares with 8 fatalities and 53 injuries caused by collisions in July last year. As in earlier years, there were more than 50 collisions involving driving while intoxicated that resulted in injury.

“There were far fewer collisions resulting in injury due driving while intoxicated in July this year than in earlier years even though this was not directly due to monitoring. Let’s hope that fewer drivers get behind the wheel when intoxicated. Driving under the influence increases the risk of accident and road fatalities,” Katajisto added.

Driver fitness to drive was also monitored during the July monitoring campaign and the police ordered 23 drivers to check their fitness to drive.