Kelių transporto priemonių vairavimas, esant vairuotojams neblaiviems: ar reikalinga plėsti baudžiamosios atsakomybės ribas?
DRIVING A ROAD VEHICLE UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF ALCOHOL: IS IT NECESSARY TO EXPAND THE SCOPE OF CRIMINAL LIABILITY?

Summary/Abstract: The participation of drunk drivers in the road traffic and accidents caused by them is one of the major road traffic safety problems in Lithuania. On this account in this article for the scientific analysis the topic of necessity (meaningfulness) of criminalization of the driving a road vehicle under the influence of alcohol in Lithuania has been picked.In the article the state of road traffic safety in Lithuania (viewed from a driving under the influence of alcohol standpoint) is analysed, legal liability that may arise for drunk driving and that is provided for in various legal acts is summarized, the possible criminalization of the driving a road vehicle under the influence of alcohol in Lithuania is considered, as well as other feasible ways of tackling the challenges of drunk driving are discussed. The statistical data analysed in the article reveals that in the period of 2000–2013 the year 2013 in the drunk driving standpoint was the safest: the least (i. e. 279) road traffic accidents, the least (i. e. 392) injured casualties and the least (i. e. 25) road deaths caused by drivers intoxicated with alcohol. However, the participation of drunk drivers in the road traffic remains a relevant problem in the country: driving under the influence of alcohol still accounts for almost one-tenth of all road traffic accidents, almost one-tenth of all road deaths and ditto – injured casualties. It is shown in the article that criminalization of the driving a road vehicle under the influence of alcohol may lead to a number of negative results. Therefore it is not assented to the current initiatives to criminalize in Lithuania the driving a road vehicle under the influence of alcohol. It is suggested rather to take active and complex other (not punitive) measures (especially preventive) that could be of greater use in reaching long-term positive results.

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