Work For Drunken Drivers

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31782, 12 September 1968, Page 5

Work For Drunken Drivers

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter— Copyright) HELSINKI. Many men convicted for drunken driving will share the work of constructing a new airport building to be opened next spring. Most of the drunken drivers convicted and sentenced in Helsinki are sent to a work camp near the airport to labour on airport developments, including clearing woodland around the runways. There are several similar work camps in various parts of the country. Finland has the heaviest penalties in Europe for drunken driving. Convicted of driving after taking two or three brandies, you may be sent to prison for as much as six months and lose your licence for three years. An amendment to the law last year specified that anyone sentenced to more than three months for drunken driving must serve the sentence in a prison instead of a work camp. About 7000 men and women are sentenced every

year for this offence, but the average Finn still regards this as a subject for jokes rather than a crime. A number of leading personalities of Finnish society, from priests to leading popsingers have served their terms In a work camp. One singer even recorded a hit about Helsinki’s airport , camp when he was released. Yet it is no joke to be ’ sent to a work camp. It can > mean losing a job or at least t working for two or three • months without any pay ; except the minimal wages ■ the State pays for the manual labour. • A part of this pay is sent i to the family of the drunken driver. t Blood and ability tests de- • cide who goes to a work ' camp. If a driver causes an ■ accident, the penalty is : heavier. i Occasionally, police set up ■ road traps, and stop every car to see if the drivers seem drunk. If they suspect intoxi- • cation, the driver is. subi jected to a blood test. i The authorities from Presi- • dent Urho Kekkonen down- ( ' wards, are more and more , worried about drunken drivl ing. Psychologists suggest lighter

! punishments, but for the prei sent the hard line is main- ; tained. The only consolation for drunken drivers is that they are physically fitter after serving their term of manual ’ labour.