Are drunk drivers really off the hook?

Alcotest, a widely-used hand-held breathalyser, hit headlines last week following the decision by Gauteng’s prosecutions bosses and the Johannesburg metro police to suspend its use.

The withdrawal is linked to a certification problem: the laboratory where the device is manufactured is not accredited by the South African National Accreditation System (Sanas), the body that gives formal recognition that laboratories and other test facilities are competent to carry out specific tasks.

This lets many arrested drunk drivers off the hook. All drunken driving cases which had not yet started and which relied solely on the machine’s readings, have been withdrawn.

Draeger, which manufactures the breathalyser, has insisted the machine’s results are legal and admissible in court.

Reliability

Breathalysers have made it easier for police officials to arrest and for the state to prosecute and convict offenders. This is partly because tests can be done on the spot, and are more practical and less expensive than blood tests.

The law stipulates that blood tests need to be done within the first two hours following an arrest and that all measures are taken to ensure that tests are not tampered with. They have to be carried out by a district surgeon who is qualified to do so and have to be analysed by a forensic laboratory - it can take months before an analysis is done.

The debate is not new about whether hand-held, portable devices such as the Draeger one, and the DrugAlyzer device launched in South Africa last year, render accurate, reliable results.

Though Draeger insists there are no grounds for debate, Gauteng authorities in turn insist that every test cannot stand in court alone, and that positive results should be verified by a blood sample.

Rest of the country

Other provinces have not followed Gauteng's example and continue to use the Draeger test.

According to a legal opinion obtained, "it is understood that the director of public prosecutions in the Western Cape, Adv Rodney de Kock, is satisfied that the breath tester Draeger Alcotest 7110MK111 was properly certified in terms of SABS specifications. It was done subject to government regulations and all legal requirements in force at the time (1998).

"Subsequently, new regulations were promulgated in terms of which approved tests must now be done by a laboratory accredited by the Sanas. However, these new regulations did not become effective retroactively. Thus the original testing process and certification that was done on this  machine is therefore still legally valid. All prosecutions in the Western Cape that rely on evidence of this machine will therefore proceed as normal."

A deadly problem

According to the non-profit organisation South Africans Against Drunk Driving (Sadd), half of all car accidents that kill or injure people involve alcohol. This percentage is twice the world average, and many of these victims are under the age of 30.

Sadd was co-founded by a mother whose son was killed in a car crash involving a drunk driver.

 “The problem is that the implementation of the South African drinking and driving laws are terribly forgiving. The laws are amongst the best in the world and although the South African Road Traffic Act allows a 10-year sentence for drunk driving and a R180,000 fine, the reality is very different,” says Sadd.

The cost of road traffic accidents to the South African economy reportedly exceeds R42.5-billion a year.

Danger zone

Sadd’s website lists the following sobering stats:

Legal blood/alcohol concentration = < 0.05g per 100ml.
Legal breath/alcohol concentration = < 0.24mg per 1000ml.
For professional drivers these limits are different and lower.
Blood alcohol concentration = <0.02g per 100ml.
Breath alcohol concentration = <0.10mg per 1000ml.

1 unit = 2/3 can of beer

1 unit = 90ml of wine

1 unit = 1 shot of Tequila

1 unit = 2/3 spirit cooler i.e. Hooch or Brutal Fruit

1 unit = 1 shot of whisky, brandy, vodka

Two cans of beers in one hour, therefore, put both men and women over the legal limit. After a night involving, say, five double brandies, you will have to wait about 12 hours before you are able to drive safely.

Driving skills are impaired after even 1 unit. The blood/alcohol level of a woman who weighs 45kg and drinks one glass of wine could be 0,045g. If she had not had anything to eat she could be over the legal limit.

Nothing – not coffee, exercise or sleep – will help your body rid itself of alcohol quicker. The only thing that will help is time: it takes the body approximately one hour or more, to get rid of one unit. When you wake up in the morning with a babelas, it means that you are still drunk and that you could be arrested for drunk driving.

(Ilse Pauw, Health24, March 2010)

References: South Africans Against Drunk Driving, Draeger