Polish men and women are getting behind the wheel drunk. Police have already confiscated 11,600 vehicles in 2025.

This year, as of August 19th, we have apprehended 61,920 drunk drivers, said Deputy Inspector Robert Opas of the Police Headquarters. He noted that the data is concerning, as the number of people getting behind the wheel under the influence of alcohol is high, and the summer months are when alcohol consumption is highest.

Police data shows that last Monday alone, officers apprehended 589 drunk drivers, and on Tuesday, 226. Over the long weekend (Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday), there were 1,450 arrests. For comparison, last year, 1,431 people were apprehended during this time.

"The summer months are upon us, we have more time, and unfortunately, some drivers are flouting the rules. Last weekend, four days of police operations, when people were generally out for a rest, saw a very high number of incidents and arrests of drunk drivers," emphasized Deputy Inspector Robert Opas.

According to data from the National Police Headquarters (KGP), there were 360 ​​road accidents over the August long weekend, resulting in 41 deaths and 431 injuries. On Thursday, officers apprehended 234 drunk drivers, 406 on Friday, 404 on Saturday, and 406 on Sunday. "These numbers illustrate the scale of drunk driving," Opas said.

He reported that this year alone, as of August 19, 61,920 drunk drivers had been arrested.

He also cited data from last year, in which police apprehended 92,324 drunk drivers. " It's important to remember that we have two states: those with a blood alcohol content of 0.2 to 0.5 per mille, and those with a blood alcohol content above 0.5 per mille, meaning intoxication. Annual data shows that over half of those 92,000 drivers, or 46,655, unfortunately, were caught driving under the higher limit , so we're not just talking about yesterday's drivers," the officer noted.

He added that the highest number of accidents caused by alcohol took place last year in August (144 accidents, 16 victims) and July (138 accidents, 21 victims).

He also provided data on the use of the criminal measure of forfeiture of a motor vehicle driven by a perpetrator of a land traffic safety offense. "We are talking about the popular confiscation of vehicles. As of August 5th of this year, police units have temporarily seized 11,63 such vehicles ," Opas said. (PAP)

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