80 Arrested During Morning Alcoblow Operation in Nairobi

A morning alcoblow operation has resulted in 80 motorists being apprehended for drunk driving in Nairobi.

Confirming the arrests, Inspector General Joseph Boinnet affirmed that the operation would continue during the daytime.

On Friday, Boinnet announced that the force would extend the hours of the alcoblow tests on drivers

Speaking during an award ceremony of officers at Jogoo House, Boinnet noted that the force had changed its tact to catch daytime drunk drivers.

"It is really aimed at getting rid of drunks hitting the road early morning while still groggy and not being in full charge of their faculties, hence risk killing themselves, or worse still murdering other innocent people.

"We have changed tact, those expecting us to do the drunk test in the night, we will also do the test in other hours of the day. We will particularly conduct tests in the morning," he stated.

He justified the change of tact terming it as an extra measure to reduce road carnage during the festive season.

Police decision to extend the hours of using the alcoblow tests to motorists is not foreign seeing that the same tactic was used in 2014.

At the time, the operation was conducted jointly between National Transport Safety Authority (NTSA) and the Kenya Traffic Police which saw several motorists arrested.

NTSA head of road safety Cosmas Ngeso noted with concern that drivers were boldly driving drunk during the day taking advantage of the fact that officers weren't targetting them.

He stated that such scheming by the drivers posed a grave danger to other road users.

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