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Russian traffic police bust over 11,500 drunk drivers during holiday season

More than 3,200 traffic accidents occurred across Russia during the holiday season, leaving 509 people dead and around 4,500 injured

MOSCOW, January 10. /TASS/. Russia’s State Road Traffic Safety Authority caught more than 11,500 drunk drivers during the recent holiday season, a source in the traffic police told TASS.

"During the recent holidays, driving under the influence was quite a high-priority issue. Although before the holiday season started, the State Road Traffic Safety Authority warned all road users that a crackdown on drunk drivers would be in effect, traffic police officers recorded more than 11,500 cases of drunk driving, while nearly 6,000 drivers refused to undergo medical examinations aimed at determining whether they were intoxicated," the source said.

According to him, more than 3,200 traffic accidents occurred across Russia during the holiday season, leaving 509 people dead and around 4,500 injured.

"Every 12th accident involved drivers who were either intoxicated or suspected to be so but refused to undergo a medical examination. As many as 275 such traffic accidents killed 27 people and left another 390 injured," the traffic police source pointed out.

The source stressed that in 2018, the State Traffic Police would continue to combat drunk driving. "Preventive activities aimed at detecting intoxicated drivers will be carried out regularly in all the country’s regions. Total inspections of drivers will continue in order to ferret out drunk ones, particularly on weekends and holidays, in large cities and regional centers," the source in the State Road Traffic Safety Authority concluded.