Finland is one of the strictest European nations with regard to enforcing drunken-driving legislation. The blood-alcohol limit allowed is accordant with the European standard (and, as such, is expected to decrease by the end of 2010).
Punishments for drunken driving vary from a fine to imprisonment. The Finnish are strict enforcers of their drunken-driving legislation; the police can stop and issue a roadside blood-alcohol test to drivers without any reason to suspect they may be driving under the influence of alcohol.
A blood-alcohol measurement is taken by measuring the number of milligrams (mg) of alcohol per 100 milliliters (mL) of blood in the driver's body. In Finland, a drunken driver is regarded as someone who is over 0.5 mg per mL. If a driver is over 1.2 mg per mL, he is guilty of aggravated drunk driving.
Furthermore, operating any other kind of vehicle, including boats, aircrafts, trains and nonmotorized vehicles while in violation of these maximum limits is also prohibited.
As of June 2010, the European standard maximum is 0.5 mg per ml. Some countries, however, allow for a higher maximum. In the United Kingdom, the limit is 0.8 mg per ml. This is expected to be decreased by the end of 2010.
Some countries operate stricter maximum guidelines. In Estonia, Malta, Romania, Slovakia, Czech Republic and Hungary, the limit is 0.0 mg per ml.
Finland is one of the strictest European nations in enforcing drunken-driving laws. More than 20,000 drunken drivers are caught annually, a relatively large number given the Finnish population.
Most drunken-driving cases are punished with a fine, albeit depending on the severity of the case and the level of mg per ml in the suspect, punishments can extend to custodial sentences. Around a third of cases in Finland lead to imprisonment. In many European countries, the authorities do not require any reasonable suspicion in order to stop a driver. Drivers are stopped at random and undergo roadside sobriety tests. Deaths caused by drunken driving account for 15 percent of all traffic-related fatalities in Finland.
In 2010, Finland moved toward helping drunken drivers to rehabilitate as well as enforcing punishments. The Finnish recognized that many cases of drunken driving were related to alcoholism, so they began to incorporate a framework for helping those caught driving drunk with their alcoholism.
The European Public Health Alliance published a report in 2003 that set out provisions for a maximum Europe-wide blood-alcohol limit of 0.2 mg per mL by the year 2010. It is anticipated that this legislation will be implemented by the end of 2010 and will thus be applicable to all 27 member states, including Finland.
