Alcoblow returns to Kenyan roads tonight
A driver who refused to take an alcoblow test in Nakuru City is inside a police vehicle.
What you need to know:
- For PSVs, the Traffic law requires that one should not take alcohol and drive
Those driving private cars should have 0.35 micrograms as the maximum intoxication to drive safely.
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.
Level of drunkenness
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.
However, for PSVs, the Traffic law requires that one should not take alcohol and drive.
If anything, for PSV drivers, the test result should be zero, so as to control the vehicle comfortably.
Those driving private cars should have 0.35 micrograms as the maximum intoxication to drive safely.
The MPs passed the Bill to amend the Traffic Act of 2013 before they adjourned to proceed on recess on June 9, 2022 ahead of this year’s General Election.
But a proposal seeking to clear ambiguities on the interpretation of what constitutes violation of speed limits fell by the wayside after it was shot down.
While pushing for the enactment of the Bill, Mr Kamket argued that the law as was then, contained subjective tests that were not easily implementable especially with such words as “as to be incapable of having proper control of the vehicle,” in reference to a drunk driver.
“The amendment shall ensure that this test be an objective one by providing for such measurable and scientific applications such as prescribed limits to be provided in the regulations,” Mr Kamket had argued then.
Breath alcohol tester
The use breathalysers, further known as breath alcohol tester, by the Multiagency Team (MAT) of the police and the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) was outlawed in 2017 on the basis that the execution of the rules establishing its use were inconsistent with the Traffic Act.
A three-judge bench of the Court of Appeal- Justices GBM Kariuki, Fatuma Sichale and Festus Azangalala directed parliament to review the law after a petitioner challenged the use of the breathalysers.
Before the court judgment, the Alcoblow had been in force for more than three years following its introduction in 2014.
The proposal to repeal section 70 (5B) of the Traffic Act to cure misinterpretation that have often seen the violators of speed limits let off the hook, however failed.
The section provides that a person who violates a speed limit prescribed for a road by more than 20 Km/h commits an offense and shall be liable on conviction, to imprisonment for a term of not less than three months, or a fine of not less than Sh20,000 or both.
This is meant to cure the frequent misinterpretation of the section which provides that a person who violates the speed limit prescribed for a road.
Some individuals, especially those caught on the wrong side of the law, have interpreted the section to mean a person does not commit an offense unless the speed limit is exceeded by more than 20km/h.
NTSA has previously argued that the section creates a minimum penalty for persons who violate the speed limit by more than 20 km/h.
The driving license of a person who has been convicted for the violation of a speed limit shall be invalidated for a period not less than three years if the violation of the limit is by more than 20/km/h and the violation is repeated three or more different times.
The requirement that every driver of a public service vehicle undergo compulsory testing after every two years to ascertain his or her competence has, however, been repealed.
This means loss in revenue to the government in terms of the fees paid by drivers for the compulsory testing.
Drivers and conductors of a public service vehicle shall continue to wear a special badge and uniform prescribed by the Registrar of Motor Vehicles.
The drivers’ uniform shall be navy blue and maroon for the conductors.
