Be very careful if you take the car this weekend! The 13th edition of the “drink-free driving weekend” started this Friday evening, at the initiative of the federal traffic police. It will close on Monday at 6 a.m.
This action, carried out throughout Belgium, is called “integrated”, because it brings together the federal police and the 119 local police zones. “By carrying out additional blood alcohol checks, the police services wish to make road users aware of the dangers of drink-driving”, underlines the federal police.
During the 12th edition of the “drink-free weekend”, in June 2021, the police had withdrawn 193 driving licenses, including 111 for alcoholism and 83 for driving under the influence of narcotics. A total of 18,371 motorists had been checked, of which 2.83% had a blood alcohol level exceeding the authorized limit. The trend was upward compared to the previous edition when, out of 17,735 people checked, only 1.91% were in violation.
For its part, Vias, the Belgian road safety institute, points out that Belgium is a bad student in terms of driving under the influence of alcohol, even worse than most other European countries. “A blood alcohol level of 0.5 multiplies the risk of a fatal accident by 2.5. Alcohol therefore plays a major role in accidents because it influences many aspects of driving behavior. On average, the liver needs an hour and a half to eliminate a standard drink of alcohol. For example, if someone drinks 10 glasses from 11 p.m., it takes him about 15 hours to eliminate the entire quantity of alcohol ingested. In other words, the next morning at 8 a.m., that person is still under the influence and punishable if they go into traffic.”, concludes Benoît Godart, spokesperson for Vias