{"id":369140,"date":"2020-01-29T13:40:16","date_gmt":"2020-01-29T11:40:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=369140"},"modified":"2020-01-29T13:40:16","modified_gmt":"2020-01-29T11:40:16","slug":"expect-more-roadblocks-and-police-checkpoints-ahead-of-south-africas-new-drunk-driving-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/motoring\/369140\/expect-more-roadblocks-and-police-checkpoints-ahead-of-south-africas-new-drunk-driving-law\/","title":{"rendered":"Expect more roadblocks and police checkpoints ahead of South Africa&#8217;s new drunk driving law"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>South African motorists should expect additional roadblocks and police checkpoints as the country prepares to introduce its new drunk driving legislation.<\/p>\n<p>On Friday (24 January), Transport minister Fikile Mbalula\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/368062\/south-africas-strict-new-driving-laws-coming-in-june\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>announced\u00a0<\/strong><\/a>that his department will introduce a 0% legal blood-alcohol limit, meaning that drivers will not be allowed to drink alcohol and drive at all.<\/p>\n<p>This new restriction will work alongside the new Aarto Act which will introduce South Africa long-awaited demerit system which could see drivers lose their licenses if they accumulate enough traffic fines.<\/p>\n<p>In an interview with <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.capetalk.co.za\/articles\/373377\/new-law-on-0-blood-alcohol-limit-for-drivers-to-be-strictly-enforced-says-farr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Cape Talk<\/a><\/strong>, Dr Leana Olivier, chief executive of the Foundation for Alcohol Related Research (FARR), said that new law will help put an end to the confusion around the legal blood-alcohol limit.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;At the moment there is a lot of confusion about the legal alcohol limit for drivers in South Africa &#8211; especially as it differs for professional drivers and normal drivers.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;A zero-tolerance limit in a country where we have such a major problem with driving under the influence is probably the way to go.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Olivier added that a key part of the proposed legislation is that it is enforced correctly.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;According to the Transport minister (Mbalula), this is going to be properly enforced from June 2020. Serious measures will be put in place including roadblocks and police check-in points in certain sections which still need to be announced.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It is going to be enforced so the general public needs to take note of this legislation,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Read: <a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/motoring\/368252\/ramaphosa-calls-for-responsibility-as-south-africa-prepares-for-new-demerit-and-drunk-driving-laws\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ramaphosa calls for \u2018responsibility\u2019 as South Africa prepares for new demerit and drunk-driving laws<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>South African motorists should expect additional road blocks and police checkpoints as the country prepares to introduce its new drunk driving legislation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":299672,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11119],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-369140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-motoring","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=369140"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369140\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":369160,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369140\/revisions\/369160"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/299672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=369140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=369140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=369140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}