Between midnight and 4am yesterday morning, a total of 23,771 drivers nationwide were pulled off the road for alcohol tests on the first day of stricter regulations on drunk driving, with 468 drivers failing the tests, the National Police Agency (NPA) said yesterday.
Among the 468 drunk drivers, 174 whose blood alcohol content exceeded 0.55mg per liter would be charged with the inability to drive safely under the Offenses against Public Safety Act (
The change to the law on drunk driving stipulates heavier fines for offenders.
Under the former regulations, the legal limit for a driver's blood-alcohol level was 0.25mg per liter. If a driver's blood-alcohol level exceeded 0.25mg per liter, he or she faced a fine of between NT$15,000 (US$460) and NT$60,000 -- depending on the type of vehicle driven and the blood alcohol content measured.
If a driver's blood alcohol content exceeded 0.55mg per liter, he or she would be charged with the inability to drive safely, which carried either a maximum one-year jail sentence or a maximum fine of NT$30,000.
The new regulations punish serious drunk drivers with both imprisonment and a fine, stipulating that if a driver's blood alcohol level exceeds 0.55mg per liter, he or she could face up to one-year in prison as well as a fine of up to NT$150,000.
As a result, should an offender receive a six-month sentence (the maximum length of sentence that can be commuted to a fine), and commutes the term to a fine, the offender would face paying a fine of up to NT$690,000.
A total of 6,446 police officers were used by the NPA for the nationwide crackdown on drunk driving yesterday.
Police tested drivers' blood alcohol levels mainly in areas with lots of restaurants, pubs and KTVs, as well as on main roads in all the nation's cities.
The NPA said the police would continue the crackdown through the Lunar New Year holiday next month.
The NPA said that its statistics showed that January and February were the worst months for traffic accidents caused by drunk driving.
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