pic: ticketsnipers.com
Reckless driver? Drunk driver? Repeat offender? The government today announced proposals to significantly increase the penalties for breaking traffic laws.
The maximum sentence for driving unlawfully and/or drunken driving is proposed to be raised from six months to one year. The maximum sentence for gross drunk driving is proposed to be changed from two years in jail to three.
Someone who repeatedly acts particularly recklessly in traffic can get a minimum sentence of 6 months or up to 5 years imprisonment. Recklessly can mean drunkenly, carelessly, and/or unlawfully.
In a written comment, Minister for Justice Morgan Johansson was positive to the proposals. “We cannot allow certain people to put others in danger again and again” (SvD.se/driving).
Johansson might have been referring to a certain case in Kramfors where a repeat offender has racked up 100 convictions for drunk driving, thievery, and threatening behaviour over the past thirty years. As one of his neighbours put it “He’s very shy when he’s sober, but when he’s under the influence he becomes rather a nasty person” (SVT.se/Karmfors).
The new laws are projected to come into effect in January, 2021.