SHENZHEN is set to adopt the country’s toughest penalties for drunk driving under a proposed set of new traffic regulations.

Drivers who break rules repeatedly will also face increased fines under the draft plans that have been posted on the Web site of the municipal legal office at http://fzj.sz.gov.cn. The office is still reviewing the draft plans.

Drunk driving, the act of operating a motor vehicle with 20-80 mg of alcohol in every 100 ml of blood, will result in a fine of 500 yuan (US$64) and a three-month driving ban, according to the draft — the stiffest penalties for drunk drivers in the nation.

If the motorist is caught drunk driving with the blood alcohol level surpassing 80 mg/100 ml, he or she will be detained for up to 15 days, fined 2,000 yuan and banned from driving for six months, according to the draft.

Drivers who commit two drunk-driving offenses within one year will have their licenses confiscated, which means the drivers will not be able to apply for a new license for the next two years and will have to sit for tests to obtain a new license, according to the draft.

Drivers repeatedly committing traffic offenses will face increasing fines. A motorist will be fined 500 yuan for each of the first four times he or she runs a red light within a year, and the fine will be 1,000 yuan for each instance between the fifth and ninth offenses. If the motorist runs a red light 10 or more times within a year, the penalty will be 2,000 yuan for each violation after the ninth one, the draft says.(Helen Deng)

(Helen Deng)