Nearly 300 drivers were pulled over by police through the night on New Year’s Eve but none were found to be over the alcohol limit, the police officer behind a drink-driving clampdown told Times of Malta.
“We stopped cars all over the island, all throughout the night and in the early hours of the morning and luckily no one was over the limit,” Senior Inspector Mario Tonna said, explaining that not everybody had a breathalyser test but motorists were subjected to roadside inspections.
Asked about the plausibility that none of the drivers were drunk on New Year’s Eve, Mr Tonna put this down to the awareness being raised by the crackdown on drink-driving.
“We’ve noticed more people carpooling and using mini vans or other forms of group transport since we set out to inform the public about the dangers of driving under the influence,” he said.
Mr Tonna has set up a nationwide initiative to tackle the high incidence of drink-driving, targeting popular locality St Julian’s, among other night spots.
The legal limit beyond which drink-driving is punishable by law is 0.8 grams per litre, meaning no more than one eighth of a per cent of a driver’s blood can contain alcohol.
A 2010 Eurobarometer had study found that 99 per cent of Maltese drivers had no idea what the limit was. Perhaps they had forgotten it after a few too many drinks, as the study also found that 17 per cent of local motorists drank every day.
Mr Tonna said first-time offenders were usually slapped with a €1,200 fine along with a licence suspension of up to three years. The fine, he said, normally doubled on second-time offences, while third-time offenders often face jail time.
Police have been on the alert over the festive period and Mr Tonna said that during the past four weekends police had stopped more than 200 cars in the St Julian’s area. This excludes the motorists stopped on New Year’s Eve.
However, despite the high number of cars pulled over last month, only 13 drivers were found to be over the limit.
We stopped cars all over the island, all throughout the night and in the early hours
Mr Tonna said the exercise would carry on for the rest of the year, targeting problem areas in the late evenings and early mornings.
Among the beneficiaries of the roadside campaign were local taxi companies.
A couple of the companies contacted by this newspaper said they had noticed an increase in the number of group bookings for weekend pick-ups and drop-offs.
Meanwhile, police arrested 31 people – Maltese citizens aged between 17 and 38 – for drug possession in Paceville during end-of-year celebrations early yesterday morning.
The revellers were found in possession of cocaine, ecstasy, amphetamine, methadone and cannabis. Police said five of those arrested were also being investigated for trafficking.