Argentina approves the “Zero Alcohol” law for drivers across the country

The Parliament of Argentina approved this Thursday a law that prohibits its citizens from driving vehicles of any size and weight with more than zero milligrams of alcohol in their blood.

By means of 48 votes in favor and 9 against, the Chamber of Senators gave the necessary half sanction so that the “Zero Alcohol” law begins to apply throughout the country in an initiative of the National Road Safety Agency (ANSV) that It depends on the Argentine Ministry of Transport.

The Minister of Transportation, Diego Giuliano, celebrated the approval of the new legislation supported by relatives of victims of road accidentswhich previously only applied in 13 of the 23 provinces and in more than 50 Argentine cities.

“Alcohol is present in 1 out of every 4 deaths in road accidents, which is why we were always very clear: alcohol at the wheel, zero. This Law is added to the policies and coordinated actions of control and awareness that we carry out”, Giuliano said in an official statement.

According to official data, traffic accidents in Argentina They represent the main cause of death in people under 35 years of age, for this reason the ANSV sought with this regulation to unify criteria of zero tolerance in driving throughout the territory.

In the provinces that had enacted a similar law individually, the number of deaths has decreased from 15.8% in the southern Río Negro and to 37.1% in the northern Jujuy.

In order to effectively comply with this measure throughout the territory, the executive director of the highway agency, Pablo Martínez, assured that he will provide the necessary resources to each governor and mayor.

“We are going to be available to each province and municipality to provide them with the necessary resources and work together on something essential, which is to save lives,” Martinez remarked.

According to the ANSV Road Observatory during federal operations in jurisdictions with “Zero Alcohol”the number of drivers without blood alcohol levels is “significantly higher” than those who have a permitted limit.