{"id":882502,"date":"2026-11-04T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-11-04T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=882502"},"modified":"2026-11-04T06:50:29","modified_gmt":"2026-11-04T04:50:29","slug":"strict-new-law-coming-to-south-africa-has-a-glaring-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/882502\/strict-new-law-coming-to-south-africa-has-a-glaring-problem\/","title":{"rendered":"Strict new law coming to South Africa has a glaring problem"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Earlier this year, the Minister of Transport, Barbara Creecy, announced that the government is pursuing legislative amendments to move towards a strict zero-percent blood alcohol policy for motorists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the coming changes focus almost entirely on drivers of motor vehicles, not addressing the other side of the equation\u2014drunk pedestrians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The amendments will be made to Section 65 of the National Road Traffic Act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In September, the minister announced that the government was working to obtain approval from the Chief State Law Advisor and the Socio-Economic Impact Assessment System (SEIAS). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This approval is necessary to secure cabinet agreement for the proposed amendment by the end of 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Creecy, more than 18,000 people were arrested for drunk driving between March and the end of August this year, which accounts for one-third of all traffic arrests during that time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Minister explained that South Africa cannot accept the nearly 12,000 deaths recorded on the country\u2019s roads each year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, many stakeholders, including traffic experts, have raised concerns about the proposed new law, arguing that it will not work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The proposed change will lower the blood-alcohol concentration (BAC) limit in the National Road Traffic Act from 0.05 grams per 100 millilitres to 0.00 grams per 100 millilitres. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The breath alcohol concentration limit will also be reduced from 0.24 grams per 1,000 millilitres to zero grams per 1,000 millilitres.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the concerns is that there are several over-the-counter medications and common consumable products in South Africa that contain trace amounts of alcohol, which could be detected by a BAC test. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These products include pure vanilla and almond extracts, cooking wines, and certain vinegars and sauces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Legal experts at Van Deventer Dowlath & Marx have raised concerns about intoxicated pedestrians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA decision to ban alcohol for drivers will have long-reaching, potentially positive implications, but what about the other risk profile? Intoxicated pedestrians are a large part of the crisis,” said the law firm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pedestrians must comply with the National Road Traffic Act, which prohibits being on the road while intoxicated. However, the firm explained that enforcement of this law is inconsistent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Minister\u2019s own statements point to intoxicated pedestrians being a major cause of fatalities. Zero\u2011tolerance will change driver behaviour, but it won\u2019t fix the pedestrian crisis,\u201d said Van Deventer Dowlath & Marx Inc Director, Cor van Deventer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf South Africa wants to reduce its fatalities, enforcement will have to go beyond the people in the driving seats,\u201d said van Deventer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No more “one glass only”<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Experts have said that the success of the proposed zero-tolerance policy will depend on how well it is enforced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis means the calibration of breathalysers, officer certification, device logs, roadside procedures and safeguards against false-positive results are all going to become critical,\u201d said van Deventer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Van Deventer raised concerns about zero-tolerance policies and their impact on the Constitution. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He pointed out that these policies can lead to problems with fairness, equality, and due process, especially when minor evidence leads to criminal charges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMoving to such a strict driver limit has the potential to introduce operational and evidentiary challenges for a legal system that\u2019s already under pressure, and there will be no margin for error,\u201d van Deventer said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to van Deventer, without strict procedures in place, charging someone for trace amounts of alcohol when they are not impaired could be a concern under Section 36 of the Constitution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also explained how this could put pressure on the state, as more prosecutions based on trace alcohol readings could overload state testing labs and court schedules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Legal experts at Van Deventer Dowlath & Marx Inc argue that the proposed amendment addresses only part of the issue. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe proposed amendment seems to deal with only one part of it, but the pedestrian risk that\u2019s so deeply embedded in the country\u2019s fatality profile needs to be addressed just as firmly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To help the Minister achieve the goal of halving road deaths by 2030, van Deventer has urged the government to adopt an inclusive framework that supports pedestrian infrastructure, local policing powers, and legislative reform as strictly as it does zero-tolerance driving.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Legal experts have raised concerns over the proposed zero-percent blood alcohol law, warning of potential implications.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":817848,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2117891105274429755","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2260365201450545","_sma_instagram_post_id":"18078852275741884","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[24523,26079,27029],"class_list":["post-882502","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-transport-minister-barbara-creecy","tag-van-deventer-dowlath-marx-inc","tag-zero-percent-blood-alcohol-policy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/882502","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\/127"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=882502"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/882502\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":882649,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/882502\/revisions\/882649"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/817848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=882502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=882502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=882502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}