More Women Caught Drunk Driving
By Bae Ji-sook
Staff Reporter
More women are being caught driving while intoxicated, with the number of female drunk drivers rising nearly 30 percent over the last three years.
About 1,130 people are caught for the driving under the influence everyday, according to National Police Agency data provided to Rep. Lim Doo-sung of the ruling Grand National Party, Tuesday.
A total of 401,830 people were caught for drunk driving by November this year, compared to 353,580 for all of 2006.
The number of intoxicated women showed a dramatic increase at 40,677, up 29.1 percent from the 31,501 caught in 2006.
Some 140 injuries and three deaths were caused by incidents of drunk driving everyday.
Driving under the influence does not only result in possible injury to the driver and passengers, but also pedestrians and police ― one officer was killed and 76 were severely injured so far this year.
Lim criticized the government's measures against drunk driving, saying they are not working properly. Police have adopted a three-strikes-and-you're-out system, which deprives a driver of his or her driving license if they are caught under the influence for three times. The number of people who have lost their license grew 17 percent from 7,362 in 2006 to 8,628 this year.
``Driving under the influence is a huge crime since it involves not only the motorist and family but others' lives, too. We really need to focus on changing people's perception that driving when drunk is unacceptable,'' he said.
He called for harsher punishment for offenders.
``I know that the government is weighing on sobriety checkups but I say harsher punishment is the best measure,'' he said.