People caught drunk driving will be forced to perform up to 240 hours unpaid community service. This is one of the suggestions included in the anti-alcohol package forwarded to the National Council for Road Traffic Safety.

Prime Minister Pavel Filip convoked in the meeting the National Council for Road Traffic Safety, in the new composition. At the hearing, the official presented the anti-alcohol package:

"Unfortunately this council did not held a meeting since 2013. Many problems have gathered, many of them we can see, when traveling around Moldova. Therefore today, we speak of multiple phenomena, one being highlighted, namely drunk driving.

It became a dangerous phenomenon. Statistics show that most grave accidents are caused by drunk drivers.

I remind you the latest case, when a councilman from Corjăuți was drunk driving and run over a 7-year-old child and escaped without being imprisoned. Over the past few years, many similar cases took place. At the end of last year, a driver from Călărași was caught drunk driving 3 times, while in August a young family from Ștefan Vodă lost their 4-month infant, a case that shook us all.

The car was driven by a 19-year-old, who was drunk driving. Those are only a few among many. Only last year and in 2016, there were over 2 700 cases when guilty people avoided imprisonment. Another statistics shows from from the  5 000 car accidents that took place in the past 2 years, more than 600 were caused by drunk drivers.

Over 50 people died, while the rest were injured. We can do something about it. I believe that we need to interfere. A few weeks ago I created a working group that analyzed this phenomenon and came forward with suggestions. Those suggestions will be discussed during today's meeting:

1 - Immediate withdrawal of the driver's license in the moment a crime was committed.

2 - In case a person will be caught drunk behind the wheel, the driver will be removed from the vehicle and car led to a special parking lot. After the driver's license will be withdrawn, law enforcement or another company will interfere, it has yet to be decided. Confiscate the car and transport it to a special parking. The procedure will cost 250 lei and the driver will pay 50 lei for each hour the vehicle remains in the parking lot. Which means around 600 lei per day.

3 - Impose unpaid community service. I wish to include that here fines are removed for drunk driving, because it proved to be inefficient. Those who will be caught drunk driving will have to do to 240 hours of unpaid community service. It means work in cemeteries, the morgue etc. I hope such sanctions will scare people and make them think twice before drunk driving.

4 - Removing loopholes in the Criminal Code that previously allowed drunk drivers to avoid prosecution. According to the Criminal Code people caught drunk driving can avoid imprisonment if it is the first time they were caught, or they take care of a minor.

5 - Making conditions harsher to return to traffic for drivers that were caught drunk driving, by withdrawing their license and only allow it to be returned after 4 years. To regain a seized license, the drivers will have to once again pass the driving test after 4 years. This is logical, because people will forget much in 4 years and will need to study again for this exam.

6 - Establishment of the mandatory anti-alcohol and anti-drug probation program. Anti-drug inscription" Pave Filip said.