Soon, one beer or a glass of wine will be enough for the court to decide to confiscate a vehicle. According to “Dziennik Gazeta Prawna”, the draft amendment to the regulations states that the court will be able to order confiscation of the vehicle from 0.5, not 1.5 per mille. This is a response to the recommendations of lawyers who emphasized that the threshold values are unfair and make it difficult to adapt the penalty to the specifics of a given case.
Since March of this year, regulations have been in force introducing mandatory confiscation of vehicles or their equivalent for driving under the influence of alcohol. However, a forfeiture order is applied when the alcohol concentration in the perpetrator is at least 1.5 per mille in the blood or 0.75 mg/dm3 in exhaled breath.
Due to criticism of the proposed solutions Ministry of Justice began work on amending the regulations. As reported by “DGP”, during the consultations, experts emphasized the need to abolish the minimum limit values, which in their opinion are unjustified.
– There are no rational arguments for the fact that a perpetrator driving a vehicle in a reckless and dangerous manner, in a state of intoxication, when the alcohol concentration is as high as 1.4 per mille, is not at risk of having their vehicles confiscated, while a perpetrator driving a vehicle in a slightly greater state of intoxication could already be subject to this measure. Currently, the court will be able to take into account all the circumstances of the act – said Dr. Jarosław Zagrodnik, a specialist in criminal law, quoted by “DGP”.
The Krakow Institute of Criminal Law (KIPK) emphasized that the limit values for perpetrators driving under the influence of alcohol in an unjustified manner “differentiate their legal situation from the situation of perpetrators committing the same crime under the influence of a narcotic substance”. This, however, violates the principle of proportionality and equality before the law.
The end of drunk driving limits
“DGP” has established that in the latest version of the project legislators have decided not to set alcohol content limits in blood and exhaled air. Therefore, the court will assess the validity of the forfeiture order.
As Dr. Hab. Zagrodnik reported, providing threshold values makes it difficult to adapt the punishment to the specifics of a given situation. – Currently, the court will be able to take into account all the circumstances of the act – the expert explained to the daily.
Interestingly, the new version of the bill also includes several new situations in which the justice system may apply forfeiture. This includes driving water and air vehicles under the influence of alcohol.
– A drunk driver of a motorboat poses a threat to people swimming in the lake and there is no reason why he should not be threatened with the forfeiture of the vehicle just as he is with a drunk driver – said Dr. Hab. Mikołaj Małecki, president of the Krakow Institute of Criminal Law, in an interview with “DGP”.
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