Drive drunk and lose the car

Tougher laws allow the state to seize and sell a car if the driver was intoxicated

In the future intoxicated drivers will lose their car if they get behind the wheel with a blood alcohol level of more than 2.0 permille, even if it's their first offense.

"A quarter of all traffic accidents unfortunately involve too high blood alcohol or drug levels," the legal spokesperson for Socialdemokraterne, Trine Bramsen, told Politiken.

"That's why tougher measures are necessary, and one of our most effective weapons is to seize and sell the car and give the money to the state."

Going after recurring drunk drivers
After the new rules become effective on July 1, drivers with a blood alcohol level of more than 1.2 will also have their car confiscated, if they have been pulled over with a level above the legal 0.5 permille once in the last three years. 

You'll face the same consequences if you have been arrested and charged with driving either drunk or under the influence of drugs twice in the last three years.

While the traffic safety council, Rådet for Sikker Trafik, supports the tougher penalties, the council suggests that more be done to prevent drink driving, such as treating drink drivers for alcoholism, as is done in Sweden.





  • How internationals can benefit from joining trade unions

    How internationals can benefit from joining trade unions

    Being part of a trade union is a long-established norm for Danes. But many internationals do not join unions – instead enduring workers’ rights violations. Find out how joining a union could benefit you, and how to go about it.

  • Internationals in Denmark rarely join a trade union

    Internationals in Denmark rarely join a trade union

    Internationals are overrepresented in the lowest-paid fields of agriculture, transport, cleaning, hotels and restaurants, and construction – industries that classically lack collective agreements. A new analysis from the Workers’ Union’s Business Council suggests that internationals rarely join trade unions – but if they did, it would generate better industry standards.

  • Novo Nordisk overtakes LEGO as the most desirable future workplace amongst university students

    Novo Nordisk overtakes LEGO as the most desirable future workplace amongst university students

    The numbers are especially striking amongst the 3,477 business and economics students polled, of whom 31 percent elected Novo Nordisk as their favorite, compared with 20 percent last year.