Drunken drivers will face the full force of the law whether they cause an accident or not, a Shijingshan district prosecutor warned on Wednesday.

Speaking shortly after trials for the first batch of offenders caught in the district under the beefed-up road safety laws, Ma Shuang told METRO that no one will be spared.

"We don't need there to be a traffic accident to treat drunken drivers as criminals," she said. "If they meet the criteria of being drunk behind the wheel (80 mg alcohol per 100 ml of blood), they will be prosecuted."

Her comments follow a controversial May 10 speech by Zhang Jun, vice-president of the Supreme People's Court, in which he suggested drunken drivers should not face harsh punishment if they do not cause serious harm to society. Many people claimed his words undermined the tough new measures, which took effect on May 1.

Although Ma refused to talk about Zhang's speech, she insisted that her team will follow the instructions of the Supreme People's Procuratorate and treat all offenders equally.

Three drunken drivers faced trial at Shijingshan district court on Wednesday, with Liu Shunlai, 61, and Gao Ren, 44, both receiving three months in prison, while 35-year-old Wang Jinyue was jailed for two months. All were fined 2,000 yuan.

"Judges gave them proper sentences in accordance with the alcohol content in their blood and the consequence of their drunken driving," said Li Jing, the presiding judge.

None of the offenders caused severe damage, although Liu, who admitted drinking 200 ml of Erguotou - a Chinese liquor - before getting behind the wheel, was involved in a minor collision.

Beijing police rounded up 505 drunken drivers from May 1 to 15, a year-on-year reduction of 82.2 percent, according to statistics from the Ministry of Public Security. A total of 2,038 offenders were caught nationwide over the same period, a drop of 35 percent year-on-year.

Haidian district people's court will hear its first case of drunken driving on Thursday. The defendant is a 45-year-old farmer detained on May 1 while twice the legal alcohol limit.

China Daily

(China Daily 05/26/2011)