Ulaanbaatar
Driving while high may be punishable by 7-30 days of detainment
PoliticsUlaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ The State Great Khural (Parliament) resolved today to run the first reading of the draft amendments to the Law on Traffic Safety. The amendments suggest determining the penalties for traffic offenders, driving under influence of alcohol and narcotics.
The new wording of the law was passed in July of 2015. Law’s section 27.3 provides that the unlicensed drivers or traffic offenders, who handed in their driving licenses for previous offenses, will be inflicted cash fine of four times the value of minimum wage and 7-30 days in jail if the offenders drive under influence of alcohol and drugs.
According to this provision, penalties of cash fine and arrest are being duplicated for different offenses. Therefore, about 4,900 traffic offenders, who have partaken in the traffic while drunk, are not being punished.
If the parliament adopts the draft amendments, the “drunk drivers” will be imposed cash fine, whereas the offenders driving under influence of narcotic drugs will be sentenced to 7-30 days of arrest.
Ms. D.Sarangerel MP asked if the number of traffic accidents was lowered after the enforcement of the new traffic safety law in 2015. The Minister of Justice and Domestic Affairs, Mr. S.Byambatsogt informed that the number of traffic violations decreased from around 124 thousand per year by 24 percent in 2016.
Also, the rate of traffic injury has been lowered by 17 percent, traffic deaths – by 15 percent and “drinking and driving” offense by 25 percent. With the increase in the amount of cash fine, the annual sum of inflicted fine increased from MNT 14 billion to MNT 20 billion in 2016.
“Mongolia has insufficient source of drug detectors and specialists on narcotics. The use of drugs has been increasing in the recent years”, G.Temuulen MP said and asked the Justice Minister to do a closed briefing on the use of narcotics and planned measures to be taken in frames of drug control to the parliament.
Minister S.Byambatsogt promised to brief the parliament on this issue and shared that the ministry and the law enforcement have been working to develop the draft national program on drug control, which will be discussed by a cabinet meeting in the near future or by parliament if deemed necessary.
