The five-year freedom of drunken motorists driving home after a night of merry making without having to worry about arrests effectively ends tonight. The police will reinstate roadblocks in various parts of the country to impose the mandatory breathalyser tests.
Those found drunk-driving risk a fine not exceeding Sh100,000 or a jail term of not more than two years or both.
This comes as the Traffic (Amendment) Act of 2022 that has reinstated the breathalysers also known as alcoblow, on the Kenyan roads comes into force tonight.
On June 21, 2022, President Kenyatta signed into law the Traffic (Amendment) Bill by Tiaty MP William Kamket, an improvement to the parent law following a directive by the Court of Appeal in 2017, and set July 11, 2022 as its commencement date.
The Court of Appeal had declared the use of breathalysers on Kenyan roads illegal.
“A person who, when driving or attempting to drive, or in charge of a motor vehicle on a road or other public place is under the influence of an alcoholic drink or a drug beyond the prescribed limits, shall be guilty of an offense,” the new law reads.
A breathalyser measures how much alcohol is in the air you breath out and its return is a chilling revelation to the partakers of the one too many for the road.
The device is used on the roads by the police to judge the suitability of a motorist to drive on the road safely without endangering the lives of other motorists and pedestrians.
The law requires that no driver should handle a motor vehicle if he or she has consumed alcohol in excess of 35 micrograms in 100 millilitres of breath, 80 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath and 107 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of urine.
To test the level of drunkenness in a motorist, one is required to blow into the gadget that has three colours- green, orange/ yellow and red.
If it returns green, you are sober. Orange means you have taken alcohol but within limits.
Red means that your level of intoxication is high and cannot therefore control the car safely without endangering other road users.
Although it’s advisable for private car drivers to take not more than one pint, which is equivalent to two beers, if they must drink, alcohol concentration in the body varies from one individual to another.
If alcohol level ranges between zero and 0.29 on the calibrator, it means that one can safely drive home.
