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Over 3,000 drunk drivers arrested last weekend

(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2009-08-18 11:47

Some 3,167 drunk drivers were arrested last weekend across China after police began a two-month crackdown on drunk driving, according the Ministry of Public Security, Xinhua reported Monday.

The Ministry of Public Security launched the national campaign last Friday following an increase in traffic fatalities and accidents in recent months.

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There were 222,000 cases of drunk driving in the first half of this year, 18,000 more than last year, according to statistics from the Ministry of Public Security.

China recently increased the penalty for drunk driving.

Sun Weiming, a 30-year-old company executive in Chengdu, Sichuan province who killed four people and injured one last year while driving drunk, was found guilty of "endangering public safety" and sentenced to death on July 23.

Sun was the country’s first drunk driver to be charged with "endangering public safety" and given the death sentence.