Drunk Driving

[Anchor Lead]

Police will launch a three-month crackdown on drunk driving starting next month, as DUI accidents tend to surge in the year-of-year period. Relevant laws will also be amended to better prevent accidents caused by drinking under the influence. Under the new law, even one glass of beer will be enough to reach the blood alcohol limit for drivers.

[Pkg]

On Saturday night, police caught a driver who was driving in the wrong direction at a Gyeongbu Expressway toll gate. He was found to have had committed the same offense repeatedly. As DUI accidents remain rampant in the nation, police have come up with more stern measures. So far, a so-called "three-strikes law" has been applied to DUI offenders, whereby drivers' licenses were revoked upon their third offense. However, under the new stricter law, DUI offenders will be deprived of their licenses upon the first offense when caught driving under the influence on expressways, and upon their second offense in all other cases. The blood alcohol level limit will be lowered from the current 0.05 percent to 0.03 percent. This means that even one glass of beer or soju will be enough to hit the new limit. Authorities are also pushing for the installation of DUI gauges in the vehicles of multiple-time offenders to prevent their car engines from starting when the drivers are intoxicated.

[Soundbite] Ho Uk-jin(National Police Agency) : "The new regulations will be reviewed by experts within this year. We plan to amend the relevant laws and enforce them as soon as possible after pilot implementation."

So far, vehicles of drivers with a history of DUIs were confiscated only when they caused fatalities. However, under the new law, cars will be also confiscated if and when intoxicated drivers cause serious injuries to others. With the public increasingly calling for strengthening punishment for DUIs, police expect the new law to be passed at the next regular parliamentary session and take effect as early as in the first half of next year. An analysis of DUI accidents over the past three months shows that an average of more than 20,000 traffic accidents in the nation were caused annually, by drunk driving, resulting in more than 500 deaths.