Motorists who cause accidents when driving under the influence of alcohol will face “radically tougher penalties”, including paying maintenance to the families of the victims, under plans laid out by Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.
His pledge follows an accident at the weekend in the city of Stalowa Wola in southeastern Poland, in which a drunk driver killed the parents of a two-year-old child, who was the only one to survive the crash.
The number of arrests for drunk driving remains high in Poland, although experts say that penalties are too low and many people are still not being caught.
“We will soon start legislative work on regulations imposing penalties for those driving under the influence of alcohol,” Mateusz Morawiecki announced at a press conference, noting that special payments have been arranged for the children of the victims of the crash in Stalowa Wola.
Sąd Rejonowy w Stalowej Woli tymczasowo aresztował, na okres 3 miesięcy, 37-letniego mieszkańca powiatu tarnobrzeskiego, który podejrzany jest o spowodowanie tragicznego wypadku w Stalowej Woli, w którym zginęły dwie osoby https://t.co/1XhaQQUY6Q pic.twitter.com/xwQbR9zpzY
— Podkarpacka Policja (@Rz_Policja) July 8, 2021
“This will be not only criminal liability, but also involving such people being obliged to play maintenance to people who survived, family members, victims,” he added, quoted by the Polish Press Agency (PAP).
The planned legislation will make it “clear to all Poles that a person who gets behind the wheel under the influence of alcohol is potentially somebody who could cause the killing of other people”, Morawiecki said.
The accident in Stalowa Wola last Saturday took place when a driver crashed into another car coming from the opposite direction while overtaking.
The two adult occupants of the second car were killed, while their young son who was travelling with them survived. The couple also had two other children, reports Gazeta.pl.
The 37-year-old alleged perpetrator also survived the accident and has now been detained for a period of three months. He could face up to 12 years in prison.
Police found numerous beer bottles in his car. According to the initial findings of the prosecutor’s office, he was driving at a speed of at least 120 km/h and had a blood alcohol content of 0.17%, reports RMF24.
In the 24 hours following the accident, 467 drivers were caught drink driving in Poland.
“The scale of the problem is alarming,” admitted Robert Opas from the Polish Police Road Traffic Office, quoted by PAP. He explained that due to the pandemic as well as additional tasks shouldered by police officers, there have been fewer road traffic controls.
Some 2015 accidents last year were caused by drivers under the influence, killing 271 people, reports Rzeczpospolita. In the first half of 2021, Polish police have already caught 50,000 drivers who had been drinking, although the scale of the problem might be much larger.
One of the main problems is a lack of traffic controls, Wojciech Pasieczny, a retired policeman and expert on road safety, told Rzeczpospolita. “The probability that a driver who is drunk will be caught is minimal.”
Pasieczny also thinks that the punishment for drunk drivers should be much more severe. “Up to 12 years in prison for such an accident is not enough,” he said, suggesting that such offences should be treated in the same way as murder, which can be punished with a life sentence in Poland.
Main image credit: Stalowka.net/Jacek Rodecki
Agnieszka Wądołowska is deputy editor of Notes from Poland. She has previously worked for Gazeta.pl and Tokfm.pl and contributed to Gazeta Wyborcza, Wysokie Obcasy, Duży Format, Midrasz and Kultura Liberalna
