Seizure of vehicles
If you drink and drive in Latvia, the Ukrainian army will be happy
Eastern European countries have the highest number of drunk drivers. Since last year, the government has been able to sell or donate confiscated cars.
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All eight of these vehicles will soon enter service with the Ukrainian Army.
Reuters
Earlier, the Latvian government gave permission to deliver the seized vehicles to Ukraine.
Reuters
Because the number of drunk drivers in Latvia is high.
Reuters
In order to crack down on blue-collar drivers, the government passed a change in a law at the end of 2022 that allows confiscation of vehicles with 1.5 alcohol per milliliter. Pictured is Latvian President Egils Levits meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky.
Reuters
The idea was proposed by Reinis Bosnox, the founder of the NGO “Twitter Convoy”, which donates vehicles to Ukraine. He then contacted the government.
Reuters
According to Poznaks, since depots for impounded cars are already full, this is a good way to kill two birds with one stone. “They can’t dispose of vehicles as quickly as people drink,” Bosnocks says.
Reuters
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On Thursday, a car transport with eight cars left Riga for Kyiv.
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Earlier, vehicles were impounded from intoxicated vehicle owners.
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Latvia, one of the countries with the most blue-collar drivers, made confiscations possible with a change in the law at the end of 2022.
On Wednesday, a convoy of eight passenger cars Leave the Latvian capital of Riga – they will soon cross the border into Ukraine cross This is the first convoy to depart for Kyiv under an initiative approved by the Latvian parliament last month. The delegation approved the donation of vehicles confiscated by the Latvian government to the Ukrainian army for medical and other purposes.
Many Latvians drive drunk
At the end of last year The Latvian government announced a change in the law Well, it allows the government to impound and auction the cars of drivers who exceed the legal limit of 1.5 blood alcohol per milliliter and still get behind the wheel. As in Switzerland, Latvia allows a maximum of 0.5 per milliliter – and there is a good reason that those who exceed this value by at least three times are particularly severely punished by confiscating their vehicles.
Because according to the BBC, it stands for Public Broadcasting LSM, based in Latvia One of the highest rates is 3500 reported incidents per year Drunk driving in Europe. The change in law led to a rapid increase in the number of impounded vehicles, filling state depots within weeks.
Officials have pledged to deliver 24 vehicles every week to Twitter Convoy, a Latvian charity that donates cars to Ukraine. “Nobody expected so many people to drive drunk,” Bosnocks told Reuters. “We couldn’t dispose of vehicles as fast as people were drinking. That’s why I came up with the idea of sending them to Ukraine.
Russia flag on a car
According to Latvian website Delphi, the top eight cars were worth a total of 18,000 francs. According to Reuters, a Russian flag is still attached to one of the vehicles, which may have come from the original owner.
After Russian invasion of Ukraine by Latvia, a quarter of whose population is ethnic Russian, immediately blocked numerous websites it said were spreading pro-Kremlin propaganda. Vladimir Putin has repeatedly cited the conflict in Ukraine as an example of the Kremlin protecting Russian-speakers in other countries.
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