Police chief: lifetime driving ban may not stop repeat drunk drivers
Armands Ruks, head of the Latvian State Police, said on TV24 that a lifetime licence ban would not by itself stop repeat drink-drivers, as some keep driving without a licence. He noted that drink-driving cases have fallen since criminal liability was introduced.
Armands Ruks, chief of the Latvian State Police, responded on the TV24 programme “Uz līnijas” to a viewer's proposal to strip repeat drink-drivers of their driving rights for life. Ruks said that losing a licence does not always deter people from getting behind the wheel again, so the problem in Latvia remains unresolved even though the situation is improving.
The viewer's proposal
The viewer suggested that after a second or third time a drunk driver is caught, the licence should be withdrawn permanently. In the viewer's view, this would make life easier for residents and police alike, since such drivers endanger other road users.
The police chief's response
Ruks recalled that since the end of 2022, driving with a blood alcohol concentration above 1.5 per mille has carried criminal liability in Latvia. According to him, the number of drink-drivers has fallen since the stricter rules came in: from about 4,500 cases a year to just under 3,000 last year. A slight decrease is also visible this year.
However, the police chief acknowledged that people, including repeat offenders, are still regularly caught driving drunk. He said there are high-profile cases and that police have noticed that taking away a driving licence does not always prevent a person from driving again. “There is also recidivism,” he said.
Ruks's comments point to another side of the problem: some offenders continue to drive even after they no longer hold a licence. A lifetime ban alone would therefore be unlikely to solve the problem of repeat offences.
