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Sweden won't ban boozing after accidents

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Sweden won't ban boozing after accidents

Swedes suspected of crashing their cars while drunk can continue to claim they became inebriated after the accident occurs, a government inquiry has found, concluding there is no need to outlaw drinking after a causing a traffic accident.

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In 2011, Swedish parliamentarians asked the government to investigate whether or not it should be illegal to drink after causing a traffic accident. Such behaviour had allowed some drivers to dodge drink-driving charges by claiming that their high blood alcohol levels were due to drinking after the incident.

In a report issued on Wednesday, however, the government inquiry concluded were no reasons compelling enough to justify such a law. Investigator Susanne Kaevergaard said the Swedish police were already able to determine whether or not the suspect was lying.

"A method of two blood samples and one urine sample collected within a certain time frame can effectively determine when the alcohol was consumed," she told the TT news agency.

"Often the result shows that the drinking occurred prior to getting in the car."

The investigator stated that introducing a ban on drinking would not make much of a difference in the number of criminals caught for driving under the influence.

Primarily, however, the investigator underlined that Sweden had no legislation against suspects lying or destroying evidence during the investigation.

"Legislators haven't yet considered evidence manipulation a punishable offence yet," Kaevergaard said.

"Therefore it's hard to justify a law that would ban not telling the truth about drinking after driving."

TT/The Local/sh

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