Latvia donates drunk drivers’ cars to Ukraine’s war effort
- The vehicles are being confiscated faster than the government can sell them, so authorities are having them sent to the Ukrainian military and hospitals
- 4,300 drivers were found over-the-limit on Latvia’s roads last year and were involved in almost thousand accidents
Latvia began seizing cars from heavily drunk drivers this year, and as hundreds of vehicles began overfilling impound lots, decided to send them to the Ukrainian military and hospitals.
Seven cars were driven in a snowstorm onto a trailer and out of a state impound lot on Wednesday, destined for Ukraine.
Two hundred cars were taken from drivers found with blood alcohol levels over 0.15 per cent in two months in the Baltic nation of 1.9 million people.
“It’s actually very scary when you realise how many cars are driving around with drunk drivers,” said Reinis Poznaks, founder of the NGO known as Twitter Convoy which has been tasked by the government to deliver the vehicles to Ukraine.
The two-dozen confiscated cars the state has promised to hand him each week to send to Ukraine will test the limits of his largely volunteer operation, Poznaks said.