Skip to main content

TISPOL video highlights Finnish crackdown on drink drivers

Traffic police in Finland have been carrying out breath tests across the country in a bid to reduce the around “58 cases a day” of drink-driving detected on the nation’s highways. A recent breath test day operation was held in Mikkeli, southern Finland and filmed by TISPOL (the European Traffic Police Network). Speaking to the TISPOL film crew during the test day, Finland Traffic Police Chief Inspector Jarmo Puustinen said, “We are doing this because we have an average of 21,000 cases monthly where people
December 17, 2013 Read time: 2 mins
Traffic police in Finland have been carrying out breath tests across the country in a bid to reduce the around “58 cases a day” of drink-driving detected on the nation’s highways.

A recent breath test day operation was held in Mikkeli, southern Finland and filmed by 4753 TISPOL (the European Traffic Police Network).

Speaking to the TISPOL film crew during the test day, Finland Traffic Police Chief Inspector Jarmo Puustinen said, “We are doing this because we have an average of 21,000 cases monthly where people are driving under the influence of alcohol. Every day we catch approximately 58 drivers. This is quite a big amount, I would say.”

“We are doing a lot of screening tests and a lot of cases come from traffic [police] control. We also get tips from the public.”

The filmed traffic police tests in Mikkeli were carried out in both directions of a popular 60km/hour highway, in sub-zero degree temperatures. The results of the test day operation are still to be made public.

In Finland the authorities have access to a database of a driver’s income, with fines proportionate to the income of the offender.

Similar anti-drink drive traffic police operations are continuing all across Europe throughout the month of December into early January 2014.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Grand achievement for Intermountain
    July 18, 2012
    A versatile solution has helped with a tricky project at the Grand Canyon in the US – Pierre Peltier When Intermountain Slurry Seal, a division of Granite Construction, submitted its bid in 2009 to repair roads and parking lots along the Grand Canyon’s North Rim, the company knew the job would come with challenges. The remote roads leading from Jacob’s Lake, Arizona, to the North Rim Lodge had deteriorated to a point that the Federal Highway Association’s (FHWA) Central Federal Lands (CFL) Highway Division
  • Road safety move for young drivers
    April 11, 2024
    A new road safety focus for young drivers will save lives
  • Drink driving a concern for the UK
    August 28, 2019
    The rate of road crashes from drink driving remains a serious concern in the UK. In 2017, there were 220 road deaths in the UK attributable to drink driving, according to the latest figures from the Department for Transport (DfT), the same as for the previous year. However, there were 1,110 crashes caused by drink driving, an increase from the 1,010 from the previous year. In all, there were 8,600 deaths and serious injuries from road crashes in 2017, a drop from the 9,040 of the previous year but still hig
  • State-of-the art road tunnels in construction and use of ITS
    April 25, 2013
    A wealth of major road tunnel construction projects and significant cant ITS installations within existing key road tunnels have been recently completed or will soon be underway. Guy Woodford examines some of them. A state-of-the art Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) - the 10th largest ever to be built worldwide will be put to work later this year on New Zealand Transport Agency’s landmark Waterview Connection project in Auckland. The giant Herrenknecht-manufactured machine will be used to construct the twin 2.5