Over 1,000 drunk drivers arrested last week

Ridma Dissanayake

The Police Media Unit yesterday said the Police had arrested and fined a total of 1,056 persons for driving under the influence of alcohol during last week.

According to Police sources, the highest number of detections were reported from Kandy, Kuliyapitiya and Nugegoda.

Police Media Spokesman SSP Ajith Rohana said Police have decided to strictly implement the law against drunk drivers from last Monday due to the significant rise in the number of accidents, wherein a majority of cases, those at the wheel were found to be under the influence of liquor.

“The Police have now started cracking down on drunk drivers even during the day time,” he revealed.

Police said that millions in fines were collected from drivers under the influence of liquor every year.

These measures are under the guidance of DIG (Motor Traffic) to make the road safe from drunk drivers. DIG (Motor Traffic) had informed all Police stations regarding the fresh offensive and a round the clock vigil will be maintained by the Traffic Police to nab errant motorists and 425 police stations within the 42 Police divisions had been supplied with breathalyser machines, but, the number of units given to each station differed.

Police sources revealed that the recent crackdown on drunk driving had made drivers more cautious and vigilant when driving which in turn had drastically brought down the number of traffic accidents in the country.