Police to jack up breath tests

Published Dec 22, 2006

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By Sholain Govender

About 60 percent of all road fatalities involving pedestrians and drivers are alcohol-related, with 0.05mg alcohol or more in their blood.

This is according to a statement issued by the Department of Transport spokesperson Collen Msibi.

As the blood alcohol concentration (BAC) in the driver increases, his chances of being involved in a crash also rise. The probability of a driver with a BAC of 0.08mg crashing is 2.7 times higher than that of a sober driver.

When a driver has a BAC of 1.5mg the probability of him crashing shoots up to being 22 times more than a sober driver. Not only does the probability increase, but the crash is far more likely to be severe.

With a BAC of 1.5mg, the probability of a fatal crash is about 200 times that of sober drivers said Msibi.

"Alcohol diminishes one's driving skills at all possible levels," he warned.

Msibi said driving can be divided into three different levels.

At the lowest level,a driver must maintain a proper speed and stay on course - steering, accelerating and braking. Most of the skills related to this level, such as tracking performance, reaction times, and visual detection, already begin to deteriorate at a BAC below 0.5mg.

At the intermediate level,a driver must deal with concrete traffic situations like whether one can safely overtake another car and whether one has to give way. Skills related to this level are: dividing attention, scanning capabilities and general information processing. These skills also begin to deteriorate at very low BAC levels.

At the highest level, the driver must be able to decide whether he should drive or not. It is well known that after having consumed alcohol, self-control becomes less stringent and even though they are a little bit drunk, people are inclined to think that they are still able to drive safely.

"The problem of drink driving is not new and many measures have been taken," Msibi said. "Despite the fact that drunk drivers now know that they can be caught and that sanctions are tough, we need society's wholehearted disapproval of drink driving."

At the core of the measures in place are the legal limits, which are 0.02mg for professional drivers and 0.05mg for other drivers.

Traffic authorities are intensifying their efforts in implementing the Rolling Enforcement Plan enforced by the Road Traffic Management Corporation. They will carry out more random breath tests for all drivers, so increasing the chance of finding intoxicated motorists.

The law says if an individual is apprehended and found to be over the legal limit, he/she does not have the option of paying a fine. That person will be arrested, taken to a police station and be thrown in jail.

The maximum penalty for driving drunk is R120 000 and or six years' imprisonment.

Driver's licences can also be suspended and insurers can refuse to pay claims, as drunk drivers will have committed a criminal act. Drunk drivers and speedsters also stand a good chance of forfeiting their vehicles to the State.

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