Jail time introduced for drunk driving

The Moldovan Parliament on Tuesday introduced prison terms for driving under the influence (DUI) in a series of amendments to the Criminal Code meant to increase penalties for DUI offenses, Info-Prim Neo reports. The amendments distinguish between the liability for driving under the influence and driving under {strong} influence, which comes with administrative penalties and criminal punishment, respectively. Penalties for driving under the strong influence of alcohol and/or other drugs include fines ranging from 8,000 lei to 10,000 lei, from 200 to 240 hours of community service, and imprisonment terms of up to 1 year. The same penalties, and even larger fines, will be imposed on the owners who will give their cars to heavily inebriated drivers. The refusal to pass an alcohol test will be punished with a fine of up to 13,000 lei, from 200 to 240 hours of community service, and imprisonment terms of up to 1 year. In all the cases, the inebriated drivers will have their licenses suspended for a period from 3 to 5 years, as opposed to up to three years in the previous edition. For other aggravating circumstances, like bodily harm or casualties caused by the drunk drivers, the punishment also became tougher. The Code defines a driver to be driving under the influence of alcohol if the blood alcohol content (BAC) is between 0.2 g/l and 0.8 g/l, and breath alcohol concentration (BrAC) is between 0.1 mg/l and 0.4 mg/l; and driving under the strong influence of alcohol if BAC and BrAC are greater than 0.8 g/l and 0.4 mg/l, respectively.