Latvia donates drunk driver’s car to Ukraine’s war aid

RIGA – Latvia began seizing cars from severely drunk drivers this year and decided to send them to the Ukrainian army and hospitals as hundreds of cars began overflowing storage areas.

Amid the snowstorm, seven cars were taken out of a state detention center on a trailer that was due to travel to Ukraine on Wednesday.

In a Baltic country with a population of 1.9 million, 200 cars were stolen from drivers with blood alcohol levels above 0.15% over a two-month period.

“It’s actually quite frightening considering how many cars there are with drunk drivers,” said the NGO known as Twitter Convoy, which was tasked by the government with delivering cars to Ukraine. founder Reinis Poznaks said.

Poznaks said the 24 confiscated cars the state promised to give him each week to send to Ukraine would test the limits of his largely volunteer work.

“No one expected that people were driving so many cars drunk. You can’t sell cars as fast as people are drinking. That’s why I said I would send them to Ukraine.” I had an idea,” Poznaks said.

He laughed when he found a Russian flag pinned to one of the seized vehicles left by the owner.

Twitter Convoy has already dispatched about 1,200 vehicles after announcing a plea for donations on Twitter days after the Russian invasion began on February 24 last year.

In 2022, it has raised €2 million (SGD 2.86 million) for vehicle purchase, refurbishment and logistics.

Latvian Finance Minister Arvils Aseradens said the government was inspired by an NGO’s cancellation of an attempt to auction the vehicles. ! ”

“We are ready to do virtually anything to help Ukrainians.”

In a police raid on Wednesday, four police officers blocked roads in Riga for 30 minutes and checked all drivers for alcohol, but none were found intoxicated.

But police say 4,300 drivers were found on Latvian roads last year over the limit and will be involved in about 1,000 accidents in 2022.