What are the swedish drunk driving laws, and how effective are they in reducing drunk driving?

Question

I have heard that swedish drunk driving laws are very effective in stopping drunk driving, and I would like to know more details about them.

I am particularly interested to see those swedish (and other country's) drunk driving laws that are effective in reducing drunk driving, can be passed in the United States. We have terrible drunk driving rates in the US, with many thousands of people killed and injured yearly. In Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, where I live, drunk driving is a huge problem.

I would like to lobby the Nevada State Legislature to pass some really effective drunk driving laws that actually work, but first I need to find out what laws are really effective in curbing drunk driving.

Answer 1

You can find the Swedish Road Safety Authority brochure on the topic here: http://publikationswebbutik.vv.se/shoppi...

But it's in swedish (yes, that is a shopping cart, but that item is free.)

The legal alcohol limits are 0,2 promille in a blood test, and 0,1 ml per liter in a breath test (effectively 0, because any alchol consumed in the previous few hours will be that much).

Punishments start with hefty (multi thousand kr) fines, and/or up to 6 months in prison.  Your license will be automatically revoked for between 3 and 12 months.  

More than 1,0 promille in blood or 0,5 ml per liter in a breath test is considered 'gross drunken driving'.  You will automatically lose your license for minimum 12 months, and up to 3 years, the fines are larger and you may be sentenced to up to 2 years in prison.

If you lose your license for 12 months or more, you have to resit your final driving test to regain it ,and you are on probation for 2 years; if you lose it again in that time, when that revocation is up you will have to resit all your driving tests to regain it, including doing actual driving lessons again.

Bear in mind it's a lot harder to get a license in the first place here, most kids don't begin until they are 16 or 17,  real lessons with a qualified instructor are required, and the license consists of multiple actual driving tests and it costs a lot of money, so losing it or having to resit the tests is a much bigger deal than in the US.