After drunken driving was made a crime in 2011, the number of traffic accidents caused by driving under the influence of alcohol has been reduced by 25 percent, with casualties down nearly 40 percent, according to the Ministry of Public Security.

Police nationwide dealt with 1.3 million cases of drinking and driving, and 222,000 cases of drunken driving in the past three years, according to statistics the ministry released on Monday.

"Alcohol-related driving seriously threatens the lives and safety of drivers and pedestrians, and we have zero tolerance for it and severely punish the drivers who break the laws," said Liu Chunyu, press officer of the ministry's Traffic Management Bureau.