New Year’s Eve controls: 52 drivers tested positive for alcohol in the City of Buenos Aires

A total of 52 drivers tested positive for alcohol in the framework of the 4,836 vehicle controls that were carried out until noon in the City of Buenos Aires, after the New Year’s celebrations, it was officially reported. Since last night, 20 vehicle breathalyzer checkpoints have been deployed at strategic and rotating points in the Federal Capital. As of midday, 52 drivers had tested positive, with a positivity rate of 1.1%. On Christmas Eve, by the same time, 3,134 controls had been carried out and 27 drivers tested positive for alcohol (0.9%). Meanwhile, the highest dosage so far was 2.2 grams of alcohol per liter of blood. There were also a total of 54 licenses held for a minimum of 2 months and 14 vehicles were seized for lack of documentation. The controls were carried out mainly in Parque Lezama, Plaza Dorrego, Plaza Rómulo Zabala (Plaza La Monito), Plaza Coronel. Martín Irigoyen, Parque Avellaneda, Plaza de la Ciudad de Banff, Plaza Dr. Juan B. Terán, Costanera Sur and Costanera Norte, among others.” It is estimated that one out of every five fatal accidents registered in the City of Buenos Aires are related to alcohol consumption, that is why this is a key policy to reduce road incidents and the Traffic Agents carry out operations 365 days a year,” said the Buenos Aires Ministry of Transport and Public Works in a statement. Along these lines, the Secretariat highlighted that since 2016 breathalyzer controls have increased by more than 200%, while the number of positives has been reduced from 3.3% to 1.2%. During 2023, more than 1,100 breathalyzer tests were carried out per day – 12.3% more than in 2022 – and an average of 14 positive drivers were detected daily, which implied the retention of 4,505 licenses for a minimum of two months. In the City of Buenos Aires, the maximum tolerated limit of alcohol in the blood is 0.5 grams per liter (g/l) for private vehicles, 0.2 g/l for motorcyclists and 0.0 g/l for beginners and professional drivers.

Original source in Spanish