Seventeen cars seized from drunk drivers on New Year's holiday

Take note – story published 1 year ago

During the New Year's holiday, 32 drunk drivers were caught on Latvia's roads, 25 of whom were under heavy influence of alcohol. Those with more than one-and-a-half percent of alcohol in their blood who were driving their cars were left on the road without a car. It was confiscated. In the parking lot of the Provision State Agency, the number of cars taken from drunk drivers is increasing every day, Latvian Television reported on January 3.

On the holiday of the New Year, 17 drunk drivers were left without their cars. Of these, seven are placed in the parking lot of the Provision State Agency in Riga. The cars seized are generally not very new or expensive.

“The holiday has ended, the new year has come, unfortunately not very happy. It shows that, in general, we have not learned as a society,” said Jānis Nebars, head of the Provision State Agency's Resources management.

The cars will be auctioned and the money transferred to the State budget.

The only way the driver sees the car again is if they need to recover the things left in the cabin. “What's left in the car can be recovered. There have been cases that even the apartment keys remain and the driver cannot get home. But the vehicle will no longer be recovered. Not after the court, not ever. And the moment on the road is the last you see it,” Nebars said.

Even though the police had warned about increased checks, the large number of drunk drivers also surprised Juris Jančevskis, chief of the Transport Safety Board at the State Police.

Police statistics show that as of November 25, when the rules on criminal liability and the seizure of cars for very drunk drivers entered into force, 107 criminal proceedings have been launched for driving under the influence of alcohol above 1.5 permilles and 14 for driving under the influence of narcotics. 13 criminal proceedings have been initiated regarding the refusal to perform alcohol testing.

In turn, the Provision State Agency said that many drivers are still unaware that if they are not driving their own car, the value of the vehicle will still be recovered. “The craziest thing is that it can end up with housing collateral, with real estate removal in the absence of sufficient funding. Hopefully, there will be fewer and fewer of those removed. The recovery shall be directed against everything, your property, your income,” explained Nebars.

The first public prosecutor's statements have already been received, and the first seized car will soon be publicly auctioned.

Seen a mistake?

Select text and press Ctrl+Enter to send a suggested correction to the editor

Select text and press Report a mistake to send a suggested correction to the editor

Related articles

More

Most important