One month in prison for driving drunk in Monaco
This electrician in his thirties was checked last summer on Avenue Princesse Grace, with a blood alcohol level three times higher than the maximum authorized.
“I don’t know what to tell you, I’m wrong”, hammered the Roquebrunois at the helm of the Monaco Criminal Court last Tuesday. On June 30, 2022, this young man who was driving on Avenue Princesse Grace at the level of the Fairmont hotel, got the attention of the police. And for good reason: he was rolling phone in hand. Approaching, the police quickly found that the driver was not committing one, but two violations.
His strange behavior led the Public Security to carry out a blood alcohol test. Bingo: the man is positive and his level is three times higher than the maximum authorized (0.77 milligrams per liter of exhaled air against 0.25).
READ ALSO: INVESTIGATION. Drinking and driving: the constant battle in Monaco
“Usually when I drink, I don’t drive”, he pleads in his defense. But difficult to convince when his criminal record is already full. The man is a repeat offender and has been convicted in the past of driving after drug use, hit and run after an accident and driving with an uninsured vehicle. This time, he says he took the car following an argument with his wife.
The judge asks him: “What does it take to make you stop driving when you’ve been drinking? You know, you don’t have to take your vehicle back, there’s public transport, taxis, or you can just wait for your condition to improve”.
“We have exhausted all the penalties, the one that remains at our disposal is incarceration”thinks the prosecutor, for whom the defendant “a problem with alcohol”. He then requires a month’s imprisonment, a year’s ban on driving in Monaco and a 45-euro fine.
At the end of the deliberation, the recidivist is finally declared guilty of the facts of which he is accused. The court condemns him to one month in prison, not to one but to three years of driving ban in the Principality and a fine of 45 euros for using the phone while driving.
drink and drive, What are the risks ?
The risk of being responsible for a fatal accident is multiplied by 17.8 in alcohol-impaired drivers. Because even in small doses, alcohol acts directly on the brain. From 0.5 grams per litre, the visual field is narrowed; the perception of relief, depth and distances is modified; the sensitivity to glare is greater; alertness and resistance to fatigue decrease and coordination of movements is disturbed. Finally, in general, the effect of alcohol leads the driver to underestimate the risks and overestimate his abilities.