The ministry indicated in the report that 727 people had died in 2006 as a result of drunken driving-related road accidents, making drinking and driving the leading cause of road deaths. The report pointed out that in 2001, drunken driving ranked third among all causes of road deaths before becoming the second leading cause in 2002.
Since 2004, the number of road accidents due to drunken drinking increased about 30 percent each year from 2,502 in 2004 to 2,999 in 2006, accounting for 16.7 percent and 36.5 percent of the yearly road traffic accidents, respectively.
The number of road deaths caused by drunken driving also rose steadily from 454 in 2004 to 547 in 2005, and to 727 in 2006.
The report also said that most drunken driving-related accidents occur during the nine hours between 6 p.m. and 3 a.m.
