Nationwide overnight sweep catches 320 drivers

Repeat offenders account for 44% of drunk-driving cases

Jeju police and autonomous police officers conduct a joint drunk-driving checkpoint in Jeju on the afternoon of July 13. [Yonhap]
Jeju police and autonomous police officers conduct a joint drunk-driving checkpoint in Jeju on the afternoon of July 13. [Yonhap]

Police have intensified a special crackdown on drunk driving as the summer vacation season gets fully underway. A total of 8,742 drunk-driving cases were detected nationwide in July, and a single overnight sweep targeting resort areas and entertainment districts caught 320 drivers.

The Korean National Police Agency said Saturday that a nationwide overnight sweep conducted Friday netted 320 cases in total. Of those, 185 resulted in license revocations, 129 in license suspensions and six in refusals to take a breathalyzer test.

Police deployed 4,225 officers and 1,580 patrol vehicles across 733 checkpoints nationwide, covering resort areas and entertainment districts in each region. The operation was timed to Friday night, when traffic heading to vacation destinations is heaviest.

The agency has been running a special summer drunk-driving enforcement period from July 1 through Aug. 31. Through Thursday, it had recorded 8,742 cases in total — 5,604 license revocations, 2,923 license suspensions and 215 refusals to submit to a breathalyzer test.

Drunk driving carries a high recidivism rate. Of the 105,875 drunk-driving cases police detected last year, 46,556 — or 44 percent — involved repeat offenders. Alcohol-related traffic accidents, however, are on a downward trend. Drunk-driving crashes fell 6.2 percent last year to 10,351, while fatalities dropped 12.3 percent to 121.

The Gyeonggi Province Southern Police Agency caught 13 drunk drivers in just two hours during its own vacation-season sweep. Those cases included six license revocations, five license suspensions and two blood-draw tests.

That operation ran for two hours from 10 p.m. Friday to midnight, with 119 officers and 69 patrol vehicles deployed at 22 locations across southern Gyeonggi Province, including entertainment and commercial districts and highway toll gates.

In Suwon, a driver in their 30s was caught with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.116 percent after driving about 200 meters from Ingye-dong to a road in front of Suwon City Hall in Gwonseon-dong. In Ansan, a driver in their 40s was stopped after driving a truck about 100 meters with a blood alcohol level high enough to warrant license revocation.

"As outdoor activities and drinking opportunities increase during the summer vacation season, we are running a special enforcement period through Aug. 31 to prevent serious traffic accidents and foster a culture of zero tolerance for drunk driving," a Gyeonggi Province Southern Police Agency official said. "If you have had even one drink, please use a designated driver service or public transportation."


eyre@heraldcorp.com