– The duty officer at the Strzelin District Police Headquarters received a report stating that at the 180th kilometre of the A4 motorway, heading towards Katowice, a truck driver was travelling in a vehicle combination (a heavy goods vehicle with a trailer bearing registration plates from the Grodzisk area) who might be under the influence of alcohol – reports Staff Sergeant Paweł Noga from the Lower Silesian Voivodeship Police Headquarters in Wrocław. – The police officers from the Wiązów Police Station were closest to the location specified in the report, and they were immediately dispatched to that section of the motorway.
And adds:
Meanwhile, other road users, together with employees of the General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways who were carrying out their professional duties on that section of the motorway that day, occupied two lanes and then began gradually reducing the speed of the vehicles they were driving.
The result? They brought the vehicle driven by the intoxicated driver to a complete stop in the right lane. They apprehended the 31-year-old man before the police arrived at the scene.
As it turned out, the TIR driver who had been apprehended was completely drunk. The first test showed one and a half per mille of alcohol in his system, and shortly afterwards— as much as two.
The extremely irresponsible driver was taken to a police cell. He now faces up to two years in prison.
The officers:
The civic-minded attitude of the men deserves recognition and praise. Feeling jointly responsible for road safety, they responded appropriately, perhaps preventing a tragedy.