Authorities in Kaohsiung City, Taiwan, have come up with an ingenious way of getting drunk drivers to reflect on their behavior – they are now required to clean funeral parlors in order to feel what it’s like being close to death.

Last month, Kaohsiung was rocked by a car accident caused by a drunk driver, which left one family man dead and three other people injured. Mayor Chen Qimai announced that those convicted of drunk driving or deferred prosecution should perform social labor service at local funeral parlors as punishment. A couple of days ago, the first batch of 11 drunk drivers went to Kaohsiung City Funeral Management Office to accept their punishment and spent hours cleaning the mortuary, refrigeration unit, and the crematorium.

“I wiped the door of the freezer and realized that there might be human corpses inside,” one of the people accused of drunk driving said. “I had never been close to death, and it felt disturbing. I really need to be careful when driving in the future, and I should not drink and drive on the road.”

Civil Affairs Secretary Yan Qingzhi said that the city government strictly implements zero-tolerance measures for drunk driving. Authorities hope that through the implementation of labor services and experience such as cleaning funeral parlors, locals will be vigilant about themselves, respect the lives of others, put an end to drunk driving, improve road safety and respect the rights and interests of passers-by.

After 4 hours of labor education, the 11 drink-driving offenders expressed their deep remorse for their actions and swore to never drink ad drive again. “I don’t dare to do it again!” one of them said.