New law sobers up drunk drivers in China
May 23rd, 2012 - 1:47 pm ICT by IANSBeijing, May 23 (IANS) The number of drunk driving cases in China has dropped by 40 percent over the last year after stricter punishment was imposed through an amended law, an official said.
Police across China handled 368,000 drunk driving cases since May 1, 2011, when China’s amended Criminal Law took effect, the Beijing News quoted Huang Ming, vice minister of public security, as saying Wednesday.
The cities of Beijing and Shanghai both witnessed a sharp drop of 70 percent in the number of cases, according to Huang.
In 2011, drunk drivers caused 3,555 traffic accidents and 1,220 people were killed, representing a year-on-year drop of 18.8 percent and 37.7 percent, respectively, official statistics show, reported Xinhua.
The amended law defines all drunk driving occurrences as criminal offences, even if the act does not result in a traffic accident.
Under the current law, drunk drivers risk having their driver’s licenses permanently revoked if they cause a serious accident, while the earlier version of the law imposed a license suspension of three to six months for drunk drivers.
According to the current law, drivers who have at least 80 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood in their body are considered drunk.
- Drunk driving cases drop in China - Sep 14, 2011
- Heavy drinkers may lose driving licence for life in China - Apr 19, 2011
- China enacts new laws to reduce capital crimes, address smoking ban, food security - Apr 30, 2011
- Drunk driver bites policeman to avoid alcohol test - May 05, 2011
- China to launch road safety campaign - Oct 20, 2011
- China enacts law to exempt 13 crimes from capital punishment - May 02, 2011
- Nearly 300 Chinese banned for life from driving - Apr 24, 2012
- Holi revellers warned against breaking traffic rules - Mar 19, 2011
- No driver's licenses for drug addicts in China - Aug 06, 2012
- Now a service to drop boozers home - May 25, 2011
- China toughens driving licence norms - Feb 07, 2012
- 2,700 students killed in China road accidents in 2011 - Jun 02, 2012
- China destroys 100,000 seized guns - Jun 13, 2012
- Road accidents spiral in Bihar, kill 1,500 - May 04, 2012
- Road accidents killed 14,000 Russians in 2012 - Aug 14, 2012
Tags: alcohol, china beijing, criminal law, criminal offences, drunk drivers, license suspension, may 1, milligrams, millilitres, occurrences, official statistics, public security, shanghai, six months, traffic accident, traffic accidents, vice minister, xinhua