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Over 230 drunk drivers detained in Moscow on Saturday

In all, a total of 989 drunk driving cases were registered in the period from September 24 through September 29
Photo ITAR-TASS
Photo ITAR-TASS

MOSCOW, September 30 (Itar-Tass) —— More than 230 drunk drivers have been detained in Moscow on Saturday within the Drunk Driver operation, a spokesman for the Moscow traffic police department tolf Itar-Tass on Sunday.

The operation was launched in Moscow on September 24, after a deadly road accident in Moscow’s Minskaya Street when a drunk driver hit a bus stop killing seven people, including five children with disabilities.

“The Moscow police detained 236 drunk drivers on Saturday. Of them, 154 were testes to alcohol and 82 refused to take alcotests,” the spokesman said.

In all, a total of 989 drunk driving cases were registered in the period from September 24 through September 29.

“The Moscow police warn that the operation is not over,” the spokesman stressed and asked drivers to call police to report about suspicious cars on the roads. According to the spokesman, seven drunk drivers have been caught thanks to such reports.

Recently, a number of high-profile road accidents have occurred in Moscow because of drunk driving. On September 22, Alexander Maximov's car whose speed reached 200 km/h according to some reports, swerved to a bus stop and rammed a group of persons, killing seven. Among the fatalities were five adolescents, winners of the Moscow creativity festival for handicapped children. Police said Maximov had been heavily drunk. The driver himself admitted that he'd been drinking for two days before taking to the wheel. Court sanctioned his arrest.

Police said that 7,141 drunk drivers were caught in the period from January to August, and there have been 7,759 cases of drivers' refusing to give a breath sample for alcohol. In this period, drunk drivers caused 152 traffic accidents in Moscow killing 15 persons and injuring 205. The casualty toll does not include the latest crash in which seven persons were killed by a drunk driver.

Drunk driving accident statistics has raised the question of toughening responsibility for drunk driving.