An entire Serbian town was drunk driving: 45,000 DUI drivers detected this year

Photo: Nikola Tomic

Since the beginning of the year, the traffic police detected 45,000 drivers driving under the influence of alcohol and about 1,400 under the influence of narcotics, and this week they will use all available breathalyzers and drug tests in an operation aimed at curbing driving under the influence of psychoactive substances, which, along with speeding, is the cause of most serious traffic accidents in Serbia.

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Vladimir Vido from the Traffic Police Administration has told Tanjug that the traffic police are detecting more and more such violations, and added that in 2020, 100 people were killed in traffic accidents caused by drunk drivers.

"The numbers are really high and that is the reason for carrying out the operations. Our goal is to have as few such drivers on the road as possible," said Vido.

He said that since the beginning of the year, a total of more than 30,000 traffic accidents have been recorded, in which 463 people died.

That is four more than in the previous year, but, he added, because the pandemic changed the conditions, a comparison with data from 2019 is better.

"Compared to two years ago, we have almost 50 fewer fatalieis on our roads, which is certainly positive, but our stance is that as long as a single person is killed in traffic, we really cannot be satisfied," he said.

Vido says that the Traffic Police Administration is asking police officers to be consistent in sanctioning violations, which, he explains, is especially important during bad weather conditions.

"The most vulnerable categories of participants in traffic are cyclists and pedestrians. Daylight is shorter, fog, rain and snow often reduce visibility. Cyclists and pedestrians get killed most often during this time of year," he stressed, and added that two pedestrians died in traffic in Serbia yesterday.

Vido made an appeal on drivers to adjust their speed and be more careful, but also on pedestrians, and on cyclists to have light signals and wear reflective materials.

(Telegraf.rs)