Carnival: Rio carries out special operation to catch impaired drivers

Rio de Janeiro state government has prepared a special operation for this year's carnival. For the first time, all the regions in the state of Rio will have daily DUI checkpoints to catch impaired drivers.

The action includes daily patrolling mainly in cities where most tourists are concentrated, such as Costa Verde and Região dos Lagos, as well as in districts of the capital where carnival street parades take place.

The mega operation will involve 216 agents and 53 vehicles, which will operate in up to 15 daily checkpoints, both in the late afternoon and at night, as well as patrol motorcycles to inspect drivers who try to escape the DUI checkpoints through alternative routes.

"We have set up the largest operation ever carried out in 13 years, since the introduction of the so-called Dry Law that prohibits people from driving under the influence of alcohol. We mapped the municipalities that will receive a great number of tourists and planned actions to inhibit drivers from driving after drinking. We want to reduce accident rates and we know that the combination of drinking and driving is behind the violence in traffic," reads a statement of Secretary of Government Chico Machado.

Drones

Besides usual patrolling, the Dry Law operation will use drones for a better mapping of the areas to reduce drivers' attempts to escape. Another purpose is to help in the identification of cases of driver-for-passenger exchanges, which can occur just before going through a traffic police checkpoint, in a driver’s attempt to escape from fines due to the ingestion of alcohol.

"It is important to put all the state's technology in support of the institutions, especially when the goal is to reduce the number of accidents," said Institutional Security Office secretary Edu Guimarães.