Drunk drivers increasing threat on Panama roads

Impaired driving is a growing threat on Panama highways leading to hundreds of deaths and thousands often of  not only the drunk behind the wheel and his passengers but other drivers and pedestrians, including hit- and- run cases. Chiriqui figures high on the accident fatality list with 48 so far this year.

Last weekend a police crackdown in the province netted 23 impaired drivers between Friday morning and Sunday.

Jovan Alexis Hernández González, 23, who has never had a driving license scored 48 percent on the breathalyzer after driving into a house in Las Lomas causing major damage and severely injuring his 19-year-old  passenger.

On the Pan-American highway in front of  Chiriqui, Mall the driver of a sedan lost control and brought down a power line. Rodrigo Espinoza was tested for alcohol and scored 41 percent.

In Volcán another driver overturned and scored 30 on the breathalyzer. Another was caught driving fall-down drunk on the Pan-American highway, in front of the San Diego Gallera in Bugaba.

Meanwhile, in Panama City, two drunk Colombians on a motorcycle tried to evade a police checkpoint. A patrol car gave chase and they were found to be without papers of any kind, including driving licenses.