President Petro Poroshenko, during a meeting on July 25 with National Police Chief Khatia Dekanoidze and her deputy, Patrol Police Chief Oleksandr Fatsevych, signed a new law imposing stiffer penalties on drunk drivers.
The law enters into force on July 27.
Those convicted for the first time of driving a vehicle while intoxicated with alcohol or drugs now face a one-year driving ban and a fine of Hr 10,200, while previously the fine was Hr 3,400, or a one- or two-year driving ban, or seven to 10 days in prison.
A second offence, if committed within the next two years, will earn drivers a three-year ban and a Hr 24,000 fine.
The author of the bill was People’s Front’s lawmaker Andriy Teteruk, who had been trying to get the Ukrainian parliament to approve the law since April.
According to the explanatory note to the bill, Ukraine has the highest death rate due to drunk driving in Europe. In Ukraine the rate is 18 persons per 100,000, while the European average is four persons per 100,000.
“Every fifth road accident is caused by drunk drivers,” Poroshenko said, according to the president’s official website.
Since the beginning of the year more than 1,200 car accidents caused by intoxicated drivers have been recorded in Ukraine. These accidents killed 150 people, and injured up to 1,600, according to figures from Ukraine’s Interior Ministry.
In comparison, in 2015 there were about 2,300 car accidents due to drunk driving, with the peaks coming in the first days of January after the New Year’s holidays, and in the summer period during the hottest days.
Ukrainian law permits drivers to have a blood alcohol content of no more than 0.02%. However, hopes for the effectiveness of the law now rest on the effectiveness of the new Patrol Police, who replaced the country’s notoriously corrupt State Automobile Inspectorate road police last year. Attempts to bribe road police officers would not be tolerated, Poroshenko said.
“It is unacceptable for a brazen rich kid to throw several thousand out of the window and think he can continue undermining road safety in the country,” Poroshenko was quoted as saying on his official website.
