Motorists in Kenya should now brace themselves for the return of breathalysers, commonly known as Alcoblow, after President Uhuru Kenyatta signed the Traffic (Amendment) Bill 2021 into law.
Moreover, the new traffic law stipulates that motorists guilty of drunk driving risk getting a fine not exceeding Ksh.100,000, a two-year prison term, or both.
The Alcoblow approximates alcohol content in one’s blood from a breath sample. Additionally, motorists are not allowed to drive after consuming alcohol exceeding 35 microgrammes per 100 millilitres of breath, 80 milligrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood and 107 milligrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of urine.
Likewise, the breathalyser scale, determines if a driver is given a clean bill of health. One is allowed to drive if their alcohol level ranges between zero and 0.29 on the calibrator.
Moreover, drivers of private vehicles are allowed a maximum intoxication of 0.35 micrograms, whereas, those operating public service vehicles are totally forbidden from taking alcohol. Hence, their test result should read zero.
The bill to amend the Traffic Act of 2013 was passed on June 9, before MP’s went for recess. Besides, this new traffic law is an improvement of another following a court directive which declared the use of the breathalysers illegal in 2017.
As at now, traffic police officers are waiting for the law returning alcoblow on Kenyan roads to be gazetted before implementing it.
Furthermore, in April, 2017, Appeal judges GBM Kariuki, Festus Azangalala and Fatuma Sichale ruled that the law introducing alcoblow was illegal since it violated the Traffic Act.
However, National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) boss Francis Meja in response to the then ruling noted that, the agency will use a different section of the law to charge the drivers.
The NTSA at the time resorted to applying Section 44 (1) of the Traffic Act which outlaws anyone from driving a vehicle under the influence of alcohol or other substances.
