A total of 1056 persons had been arrested and fined by police for driving while under the influence of alcohol during the last week, police said.

The highest number of detections was reported form Kandy, Kuliyapitiya and Nugegoda. Commencing from last week the police had started to crack down on drunk drivers even during the day time, it was revealed.

Police said that millions in fines were collected from drivers under the influence every year. They said that all the 425 police stations within the 42 police divisions had been supplied with breathalyzer machines but that the number of units given to each station differed.

Police sources revealed that the recent crackdown on drunk driving had made drivers more cautious when driving their vehicles and this in turn had brought down the number of traffic accidents in the country drastically. (SD)