Moldovan PM says anti-alcohol package targets driving drunk, corruption of law-enforcement bodies

Chisinau, 18 May /MOLDPRES/ - Drivers caught in advanced drunken state at wheel will remain without driver’s licence for a period of four years and will be obliged to work for the benefit of the community. They will not be able to make a narrow escape by paying only the fine. These provisions are contained in an anti-alcohol package, unveiled at a today meeting of the National Council for Road Traffic Safety, in its new composition, the government’s communication and protocol department has reported.       

The PM noted that this Council was to become an efficient platform of discussions for problem in the field and identifying solutions to them. Pavel Filip stressed that there was presently political will and determination to eradicate the consumption of alcohol at wheel, which is a quite dangerous phenomenon with serious consequences. Although the fines for driving drunk are pretty high, they do not discourage the phenomenon of drivers consuming alcohol.

In the last two years, 50 people have died in traffic accidents and 280 ones were injured. The main reasons are the high speed and driving drunk. On this period, 14,000 drivers were caught driving drunk. Of them, 11,000 were in the advanced drunken state. The saddest thing is that the guilty persons escaped criminal responsibility in 2,700 cases out of 14,000 ones.   

To enhance the responsibility of drivers and the safety of people on Moldova’s roads, at an initiative by Prime Minister Pavel Filip, a working group was created which worked to make amendments to law. The draft comes with a new approach. “We do not want to make money from fines imposed for drivers and the Interior Ministry to only mark the number of drivers sanctioned. We want a systemic approach of the problem’s reason,” Pavel Filip said.     

The principal amendments of the draft are as follows:

First of all, immediately after a driver is caught drunk at wheel, he/she will remain without driver’s licence. Now, policemen raise the driver’s licence till the pronunciation of the court ruling and issue to the driver a temporary licence, which means, in fact, that the driver is continuing to drive. “We cancel the notion of “temporary driver’s licence.” The driver’s licence is raised immediately and, at the same time, the judge will have at his disposal 3 days to confirm or not the raising of the driver’s licence,” Filip noted.. 

The vehicle of the man caught driving drunk will be raised and carried to special parking. The procedure will cost 250 lei, plus 50 lei of parking per hour, about 600 lei per day. Earlier, this procedure has not been regulated; often, policemen had to drive the car to transport it.

At the same time, the fine for driving in an advanced drunken state will be excluded. And this on grounds that the fine has not proved to be efficient. Drivers were paying the fine and continuing to ignore the law. According to the amendments, those who are caught in advanced drunken state will be obliged to work up to 240 hour for the benefit of the community. This means unremunerated labour in centres for persons with disabilities, morgue, cemeteries, cleaning streets and other activities prescribed by the National Probation Inspectorate.     

A very important thing is that the anti-alcohol package excludes the deficiency of legislation, which gave judges and prosecutors a margin of interpretation. And namely, under the Criminal Code (art.55), those who are caught in advanced drunken state at wheel can be released from criminal responsibility, if they are at the first infringement or if they maintain a minor. In these conditions, in a lot of cases, drivers caught drunk at wheel were escaping with a fine worth tens of times lower.  This provision was cancelled. “We targeted not only the phenomenon of consumption of alcohol at wheel, but also corruption of the law-enforcement bodies, so that a margin of interpretation of the legislation by judges should not longer exist,” Pavel Filip stressed.   

Besides, the driver caught in advanced drunken state remains without driver’s licence. The notion of “cancellation of the driver’s licence” will be introduced. The drivers infringing the law will be able to get a driver’s licence as late as in four years, after they repeatedly pass the driving exam. And this only after presenting the certificate on anti-alcohol training. The compulsory anti-alcohol probation programme, made by the National Probation Inspectorate, will have 20 hours and will cost 4,000 lei.      

The PM stressed that drivers must observe the law and there should be a margin of interpretation of the legislation, first of all, for their security and the one of the people around them, for their families and children. “After all, each one decides for himself on how he gets home after a party: by taxi or in the police car. This draft clearly tell those who still think to drink one glass and drive: you have afforded this, then you do not have the driver’s licence!,” Pavel Filip added.

The anti-alcohol package was worked out and proposed for public consultations. After the document is given the final touches, it is to be approved by the cabinet.