Transport minister Fikile Mbalula plans to introduce strict new rules around alcohol and driving through the National Road Traffic Amendment Bill.<\/p>\n
Presenting the bill to parliament on Tuesday (13 October), Mbalula said the bill proposes an effective prohibition of any drinking and driving.<\/p>\n
“No person shall drive on a public road or occupy the driver’s seat of a vehicle, the engine of which is running, while there is any concentration of alcohol in any specimen of blood taken from any part of a person’s body.<\/p>\n
“This will ensure that we bring zero-tolerance to drivers who drink alcohol and drive on our roads, placing all of us and our loved ones in danger.”<\/p>\n
Mbalula said that the plan to introduce a zero-tolerance around alcohol has been ’emboldened’ by recent data from the South African Medical Research Council and Unisa.<\/p>\n
The minister said that the data shows that:<\/p>\n
“The state is spending billions of brands on the Road Accident Fund, so we need to ensure that we undertake new measures to reduce accidents and saves lives,” he said.<\/p>\n
The National Road Traffic Act (NRA) currently enables those who have consumed alcohol to get behind the wheel provided they are under the blood alcohol limit.<\/p>\n
These laws differentiate between normal drivers and professional drivers (those drivers who hold professional driving permits).<\/p>\n
For normal drivers, the concentration of alcohol in any blood specimen must be less than 0.05 gram per 100 millilitres, and in the case of a professional driver, less than 0.02 gram per 100 millilitres.<\/p>\n