With the return of the alcoblow also known as the breathalyzer on the Kenyan roads, motorists have to be cautious to escape the Ksh 100,000 fine or two-year jail term, or both for drunk driving.
The new Traffic Amendment Bill of 2021 signed into law by President Uhuru Kenyatta allowed the return of the alcoblow on the Kenya roads.
It seeks to clear the confusion and ambiguities that resulted in it being termed illegal by the Court of Appeal in 2017.
How it works
The breathalyzer tests the level of alcohol content in the drivers’ blood through breaths.
The new Traffic Act states that no driver should be behind the wheel if they have consumed alcohol over 35 microgrammes per 100 milliliters of breath, 80 milligrammes of alcohol per 100 milliliters of blood, and 107 milligrammes of alcohol per 100 milliliters of urine.
Private vehicle drivers are allowed a maximum of 0.35 micrograms, while those operating public service vehicles (PSVs) are strictly prohibited from taking alcohol and their test result should be zero.
The blood alcohol content is the level of alcohol in 100 milliliters of blood. If the driver has 80 milligrammes of alcohol per 100 milliliters of blood it means they have 0.08 per of alcohol.
The age, gender, weight, intervals of meal consumption, type of alcohol, other substances used, and the stress levels of the driver also play a role in the level of alcohol in the drivers
Justification
According to the National Transport Safety Authority (NTSA), there has been a spike in the number of road accidents. From January 2022 to June 2022, NTSA reported that 1,912 people died in road accidents representing a 9 per cent increase from previous year’s statistics.
The return of alcoblow comes barely days after the country witnessed ugly scenes of crashes on the Nairobi Expressway and on the Mombasa-Nairobi Highway.
In the Mombasa-Nairobi accident on Friday, July 8, at least 18 people lost their lives. On the other hand, the elevated 27-km in the city has already recorded two nasty accidents, with one motorist losing his life after ramming into a toll station.
Alcoblow was first introduced in Kenya 2006 but was stopped by courts in 2010 then reintroduced in 2011 but halted in 2019 after police officers were reported to misuse the gadget to extort and harass motorists.
