Brazil's new drunken driving law stirs discontent

Brazil has some of the world's most dangerous roads, with 7 deaths per 10,000 cars each year, compared to one or two deaths in most European countries, according to the Brazilian Association of Traffic Medicine.

An estimated 45 percent of those 36,000 annual deaths are due to drinking, the group says.

The law, which took effect on June 20, effectively bars drivers from drinking and imposes stiff fines. One beer is enough to exceed the new limit of 0.2 decigrams of alcohol per liter of blood. The old limit was 0.6 decigrams.

Violators face at least a $600 fine, a one-year suspension of driving privileges and temporary impoundment of their cars. Heavy drinkers can be imprisoned.

In 10 days federal police, who monitors the country's main highways, have arrested some 300 motorists and fined many more even though experts say they are undertrained, underfunded and underequipped. Some states only have a handful of breathalyzers.

Still, the law is prompting widespread discontent in a country where the rules of the road are often scorned.