He drank and got behind the wheel. Did he commit an offense or a crime?

On May 22, around 10:00 pm, there was a road accident in Swobnica, in which a 52-year-old Volvo driver was involved. During a routine roadside check, police officers from Chojna police station found that the man was drunk. According to the disclosed information, the test results showed 0.23 mg/l of alcohol in the exhaled air.

As you can easily guess, driving in such conditions is not only irresponsible, but also dangerous for other road users. The police officers immediately took appropriate action, stopped the driver and detained him at the police station until the effects of the alcohol in his system were gone.

Many drivers, especially young drivers, believe that drinking a small amount of alcohol will not affect their ability to drive. Nothing worse! Slowing down or driving cautiously are not always sufficient precautions. Alcohol affects the speed of reactions and the perception of reality, which can lead to serious accidents on the road.

But back to the driver. He had a little more than 0.48 per mille of alcohol in his body. As we wrote dThe permissible amount of alcohol in the body for a driver is up to 0.2 per mille. People who cross this threshold commit an offence. The penalty is the loss of the driver’s license for at least six months and 5,000. PLN fine. As it will be in a special case, the District Court in Gryfino will decide.

If there is 0.5 per mille in the driver’s blood or 0.25 mg/dm3 in exhaled air, then the driver is liable for a felony, not a misdemeanor.