Impounded drunk driver cars from Latvia are being sent to Ukraine under a new law to help the Russian-invaded country.
Already eight vehicles are headed from the capital Riga which is part of the first convoy of cars sent after the approval of the relevant legislation by the Parliament of Latvia last month.
The MPs agreed, among other things, on the delivery of state cars to the Ukrainian army and hospitals.
Last year, Latvia changed its drink-driving law so that drivers with 1.5 mg of alcohol in 100 ml of blood (three times the limit) could be punished, among other things, by impounding their car, which will then be sold by the state to third parties.
Latvia has one of the highest rates of drunk driving incidents in Europe, according to the state-run LSM station, which reported around 3,500 such cases each year.
After the legislation, there was an escalation of seizures and state pens were filled within weeks. Against the background of the large number of cars that ended up in the state, the authorities decided to donate a few dozen vehicles to Twitter Convoy, a charity that sends vehicles to Ukraine.
“No one expected that so many people drive drunk,” commented the founder of the non-governmental organization, Reinis Poznaks. “They don’t have time to sell them at the rate they (the offenders) drink. So I came up with the idea to send them to Ukraine.”
It should be noted that in the first two months of implementation of the new legislation, 200 cars have been confiscated from their owners as they were found to have alcohol in their blood above 0.15%.
The 200 seized cars the state has pledged to send each week to Ukraine will test the limits of his largely voluntary business, he said.
Twitter Convoy has already shipped nearly 1,200 vehicles following the appeal for donations it made following the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Through 2022, it has raised €1 million for repairs and logistics needs of the vehicles.
Latvian Finance Minister Arvils Aserandens said the government was inspired by the NGO’s success to abandon the idea of auctioning them off. “We are ready to do anything to support the Ukrainians,” he commented.
