A months-long campaign against drink-driving on Greek roads appears to be paying off, with less than 1% of drivers recently stopped in the Greater Athens region failing a breathalyser test, according to police data published Monday.
Meanwhile, other police figures indicated that a more recent drive to impose order on riders of e-scooters is yielding results, so far in the form of fines rather than greater respect for the highway code.
Traffic police in the Greater Athens region tested 23,095 motorists for their blood alcohol content between May 14-18 and all but 211, or 0.9%, were found below the legal limit – with 13 people so drunk that they were arrested.
At the same time, traffic police imposed 4,710 fines for speeding, running red lights, driving while talking in the phone and other violations.
Meanwhile, a targeted operation against traffic violations by e-scooter riders in the Greater Athens region between May 11-17 saw 420 people stopped and 243 fined for not wearing mandatory crash helmets. Another six were fined for drink-driving and one for tampering with the vehicle to increase its top speed.
