NOVOSIBIRSK, October 16 (RIA Novosti) - The driver of a Lada car in Siberia has been charged with drunk driving after crashing into a policeman standing at the side of the road, Krasnoyarsk Territory police said on Friday.
The accident happened late on Thursday night in Krasnoyarsk when the road police officer was performing a routine document-check on the driver of a Mercedes. The Lada crashed into the officer's patrol, which was parked with hazard and emergency lights flashing, and then hit the officer and another Lada.
"Blood tests on the Lada driver showed alcohol content of 0.54 ppm," the police spokesman said. The limit under Russian law is 0.3 ppm.
The police officer has been hospitalized with various injuries.
Drunk driving carries a maximum sentence of nine years in prison in Russia, where some 30,000 people lose their lives in traffic accidents every year. President Dmitry Medvedev this summer blamed the carnage on the poor state of the country's roads, as well as a "lack of discipline, and the criminal negligence of drivers."
