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JUST three beers could get you a hefty fine and jail for drunk-driving under a tough breathalyser bill laid in the House of Representatives [recently].
Minister of Works and Transport, Colm Imbert, was in a conciliatory mood towards the Opposition as he laid the Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill 2006 which needs a special majority.
Leader of the Opposition, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, said she too was concerned about carnage on the roads but asked that the Bill be thrashed out in a parliamentary Joint Select Committee (JSC) which the House agreed to. The Bill’s explanatory says it empowers a constable to demand samples of breath, and in certain instances samples of blood, from persons thought to be driving under the influence of alcohol.
Imbert said: “The purpose of the Bill is to empower the police to stop people and test people at the scene.”
He said the Bill penalises a first time offender by a $5,000 fine, plus possible imprisonment of six months and a 12-month loss of driving licence.
A second-time offender, he said, faces a $10,000 fine, 12 months imprisonment and permanent disqualification from driving.
Imbert said drivers could be charged for either failing a test for excess alcohol, or for refusing to be tested.
He said the Bill is being brought because the present law says the police must prove that a suspect was actually impaired in his driving by alcohol or drugs, whereas the new Bill will allow conviction simply where someone’s blood is tested as having too much alcohol in it. “At the moment it’s very judgmental as the police officer has to make a judgement based on smell et cetera. It’s very hard for them to prove the drink actually impaired the driver’s ability to drive.”
Imbert said the Bill sets the same 0.08 percent blood-alcohol limit as the US, UK, Canada, Mexico, and New Zealand. He noted that this limit would be reached by a drinker before that person has finished his third beer which would take him to a level of 0.09 percent.
He said the late Professor Michael Beaubrun had discovered that many people who died in road accidents had blood-alcohol levels as high as 0.5 percent which is high enough to cause death in itself (by alcohol poisoning). Drunk-driving, he lamented, is a leading cause of death of young people.
Reading through the Bill, Imbert said the Minister of National Security must certify any constable who administers a breath test plus the equipment such as a breathalyser. The only defence of a suspect, he said, was that the instrument was not properly calibrated, that the police officer was not proficient, or that the reading was not over the blood-alcohol limit.
He said the Bill was based on British law rather than US law.
The Opposition took up Imbert’s offer to join the debate. Upon hearing of the three beer limit, Couva South MP Kelvin Ramnath quipped: “I now start to drink.” On the Bill, Caroni East MP Ganga Singh remarked: “So your limit is two beers.”
Chaguanas MP Manohar Ramsaran said different people have different tolerances for alcohol. Imbert assured: “This Bill is not intended to outlaw drinking, but driving under the influence of alcohol.”Persad-Bissessar noted the absence of Imbert’s frequent abrasiveness. She scoffed at his promises to return later with more details such as the quantity of different types of drink which would breach the blood-alcohol limit. “So, he’s acknowledging that the legislation is flawed.”
Persad-Bissessar urged the Government to retain the parent Act’s ban on persons driving under the influence of illicit drugs, which the Bill proposed to drop. “I ask that at committee stage we keep driving under the influence of drugs as illegal.” She claimed that the Minister’s thrust was outdated, and that the Bill could also include testing of saliva and urine, in addition to breath and blood.
Almost akin to a doctor, she displayed several devices which could detect a person’s level of alcohol or drugs. “This strip tests for five things - amphetamines, opiates, cocaine, marijuana and alcohol. This is a urine test”.
She showed a saliva test for alcohol testing at the roadside. “The breath scan itself, you have this disposable one,” she said unwrapping yet another item.
Ramnath quipped: “Like you have a drug store?” There was also a saliva test for five substances - four drugs and alcohol, she added. She then noted that Listerine, cough-syrup and breathing patterns could give a false-positive result in a breathalyser test.
Persad-Bissessar urged that the Bill echo the UK law by including provisions for the education and rehabilitation of offenders. However she said the Bill should debar from driving anyone refusing to take an alcohol test in addition to those persons failing the test. Noting the Government’s lack of implementation of the Police Reform Bills, she pleaded for this Bill not to just end up on the books without being effected.
[Trini News]
Minister of Works and Transport, Colm Imbert, was in a conciliatory mood towards the Opposition as he laid the Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill 2006 which needs a special majority.
Leader of the Opposition, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, said she too was concerned about carnage on the roads but asked that the Bill be thrashed out in a parliamentary Joint Select Committee (JSC) which the House agreed to. The Bill’s explanatory says it empowers a constable to demand samples of breath, and in certain instances samples of blood, from persons thought to be driving under the influence of alcohol.
Imbert said: “The purpose of the Bill is to empower the police to stop people and test people at the scene.”
He said the Bill penalises a first time offender by a $5,000 fine, plus possible imprisonment of six months and a 12-month loss of driving licence.
A second-time offender, he said, faces a $10,000 fine, 12 months imprisonment and permanent disqualification from driving.
Imbert said drivers could be charged for either failing a test for excess alcohol, or for refusing to be tested.
He said the Bill is being brought because the present law says the police must prove that a suspect was actually impaired in his driving by alcohol or drugs, whereas the new Bill will allow conviction simply where someone’s blood is tested as having too much alcohol in it. “At the moment it’s very judgmental as the police officer has to make a judgement based on smell et cetera. It’s very hard for them to prove the drink actually impaired the driver’s ability to drive.”
Imbert said the Bill sets the same 0.08 percent blood-alcohol limit as the US, UK, Canada, Mexico, and New Zealand. He noted that this limit would be reached by a drinker before that person has finished his third beer which would take him to a level of 0.09 percent.
He said the late Professor Michael Beaubrun had discovered that many people who died in road accidents had blood-alcohol levels as high as 0.5 percent which is high enough to cause death in itself (by alcohol poisoning). Drunk-driving, he lamented, is a leading cause of death of young people.
Reading through the Bill, Imbert said the Minister of National Security must certify any constable who administers a breath test plus the equipment such as a breathalyser. The only defence of a suspect, he said, was that the instrument was not properly calibrated, that the police officer was not proficient, or that the reading was not over the blood-alcohol limit.
He said the Bill was based on British law rather than US law.
The Opposition took up Imbert’s offer to join the debate. Upon hearing of the three beer limit, Couva South MP Kelvin Ramnath quipped: “I now start to drink.” On the Bill, Caroni East MP Ganga Singh remarked: “So your limit is two beers.”
Chaguanas MP Manohar Ramsaran said different people have different tolerances for alcohol. Imbert assured: “This Bill is not intended to outlaw drinking, but driving under the influence of alcohol.”Persad-Bissessar noted the absence of Imbert’s frequent abrasiveness. She scoffed at his promises to return later with more details such as the quantity of different types of drink which would breach the blood-alcohol limit. “So, he’s acknowledging that the legislation is flawed.”
Persad-Bissessar urged the Government to retain the parent Act’s ban on persons driving under the influence of illicit drugs, which the Bill proposed to drop. “I ask that at committee stage we keep driving under the influence of drugs as illegal.” She claimed that the Minister’s thrust was outdated, and that the Bill could also include testing of saliva and urine, in addition to breath and blood.
Almost akin to a doctor, she displayed several devices which could detect a person’s level of alcohol or drugs. “This strip tests for five things - amphetamines, opiates, cocaine, marijuana and alcohol. This is a urine test”.
She showed a saliva test for alcohol testing at the roadside. “The breath scan itself, you have this disposable one,” she said unwrapping yet another item.
Ramnath quipped: “Like you have a drug store?” There was also a saliva test for five substances - four drugs and alcohol, she added. She then noted that Listerine, cough-syrup and breathing patterns could give a false-positive result in a breathalyser test.
Persad-Bissessar urged that the Bill echo the UK law by including provisions for the education and rehabilitation of offenders. However she said the Bill should debar from driving anyone refusing to take an alcohol test in addition to those persons failing the test. Noting the Government’s lack of implementation of the Police Reform Bills, she pleaded for this Bill not to just end up on the books without being effected.
[Trini News]
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