Police not ready for drink-driving operations - officials
The police’s campaign on drink-driving has seen many people sleep behind the bars. File Photo
What you need to know:
- Mr Niwabiine yesterday told this publication that breathalysers, used to test a driver’s alcohol levels need to be calibrated
Police officers are not ready to resume operations against drink-driving nick-named kawunyemu, according to Mr Lawrence Niwabiine, the acting director of Traffic and Road Safety.
Mr Niwabiine yesterday told this publication that breathalysers, used to test a driver’s alcohol levels need to be calibrated.
This follows the Ministry of Health (MOH) August 11 statement.
“We have had detailed discussions regarding use of breathalysers to reduce road accidents caused by drivers under the influence of alcohol among others,” reads part of the Health ministry statement.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, the Ministry of Health advised against the use of breathalysers, for fear of spreading the virus.
“Following the significant reduction of Covid-19 cases, MoH has evaluated the risk of getting Covid-19 through breathalysers and finds it very negligible. Besides, UPF [Uganda Police Force] has confirmed that each client will use a separate sealed and disposable tube to blow through the breathalyser,” reads the statement.
According to the 2022 Annual Crime and Traffic/Road Safety Report, 20,394 crashes were reported. Of which, 3,901 were fatal, 10,776 were serious and 5,717 were minor.
The report said the number of fatal crashes increased by 16.9 percent from 3,757 in 2021 to 3,901 in 2022 while serious crashes increased from 9,070 in 2021 to 10,776 in 2022.
The report said driving a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol is a common offence and in 2021, there were 193 offenders and in 2022, there were 124 offenders.
When asked how they arrived at the statistics for drunk drivers as seen in the 2022 report after MoH advised the police against the use of breathalysers, Mr Niwabiine said they had resorted to the use of blood samples.
Section 112 of the Traffic Control and Road Safety Act,1998, outlaws driving after consuming more than the legal alcohol limit, which is 80 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millimeters of blood (expressed as 0.08 percent of blood alcohol content).
Ms Moreen Nakato, a motorist, said: “When you are drunk, you cannot have proper control of the vehicle, you may cause an accident and die and in the process also you may kill innocent people.”
