The National Police, controlled by the Sandinista Front, announced that for this month of December, as part of the plans to reduce traffic accidents during these “Marian, holiday, Christmas and New Year’s Eve” festivals, they will increase coercive measures against people who drive while intoxicated and without licenses.
«We are increasing all coercive actions, listen fellow drivers, all coercive measures that have to do with the violation of the Law (431, Law for the Vehicular Circulation Regime and Traffic Violations): not having the documents in order, driving drunk, speeding, reckless driving. We have coercive actions, they are strong, to take care of the lives of each one of you and each one of us,” said Commissioner General Vilma Reyes, head of the National Transit Security Directorate this Monday, December 2. of the Police.
The Ortega official explained that they will extend from 24 to 48 hours the period in which people who drive without licenses or with expired or suspended licenses are detained. Previously, the 48-hour period was only applied to those who were repeat offenders committing that infraction.
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“We are going to detain drivers in cells who are in the following conditions, let’s see, pay attention: drunk, with suspended licenses, without driver’s licenses, 48 hours in cell,” Reyes explained.
He explained that those who drive while intoxicated will also have a “license suspension for six months” and will extend this coercive measure to “repeat offenders” who are found driving with a “suspended license.”
The National Traffic Safety Directorate of the Police recorded that on the first day of December alone, 11 deaths were recorded in traffic accidents, so they hope that coercive measures, along with other plans that they claim are linked to awareness, will occur less. accidents during this last month of the year.
Reyes pointed out that in December 2023 they registered 120 deaths in traffic accidents and it was that figure that caused an increase and raised the statistics for the entire period.
More than 835 deaths in traffic accidents
The Police have registered between January 1 and November 24 a total of 835 deaths in traffic accidents. The number of deaths on the country’s roads is higher, taking into account that the institution has not yet disclosed the number of deaths that occurred in the last week.
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Commissioner Jaime Vanegas, inspector general of the Police, last week indicated that as of November 24, they suspended 37,600 driver’s licenses and arrested 5,462 drivers who were behind the wheel while intoxicated.
In addition, he specified that the number of people arrested for not carrying driver’s licenses – in the first three weeks that this violation was applied – amounted to 1,428. These citizens spent, if it was the first time they committed this infraction, a total of 24 hours in jail. The repeat offenders were locked up for 72 hours.
