Just when you think the ANC can’t get more daft, transport minister Barbara Creecy proves us wrong. I almost fell off my chair when I read that she plans to impose an outright ban on alcohol when driving (“Creecy pushes for zero-tolerance drink-driving law after alcohol arrests surge”, January 16). On the face of it, that sounds like a brilliant idea.
After all, according to the annual Zutobi 2025 and 2023 reports South Africa is the world’s most dangerous country to drive in, primarily due to high alcohol-related death rates (57.5%) and low seatbelt usage (31%). However, in the real world, Creecy’s announcement is a deflection, an excuse to avoid doing the hard work by dealing with the real systemic reasons for our high road fatalities. I opposed similar moves when I sat on the transport portfolio committee in parliament, for the same reasons.
The government needs to ensure legislation already in place is enforced, ensuring that traffic violations are taken seriously. The law requires that motorists may drive with a blood alcohol level no higher than 0.05g per 100ml of blood, or 0.02g per 100ml for a professional driver. In an ideal world, drink driving would indeed be banned 100%.
Read Full Article on Business Day
[paywall]
However, remedies such as cough syrups often contain alcohol, as do some chronic medications. Drugs that treat mental health issues, such as phenobarbital, contain up to 15% ethanol, as do diazepam and propranolol, which treatheart conditions and migraines. There are medications containing alcohol that are not easily substituted, and pharmaceutical research shows that alcohol is essential in some medicines.
These medications do not put motorists over the current permitted alcohol limit — the very reason South Africa has legislated the limit it currently has. But in typical ANC fashion these facts will be ignored by the minister, who will attempt to ram through zero-alcohol legislation, which will crash and burn when the reality on the ground hits and thousands of motorists who require such medication are either unable to drive or are arrested for drink driving. JOIN THE DISCUSSION: Send us an email with your comments toletters@businessday.co.za.
Letters of more than 200 words may be edited for length. Anonymous correspondence will not be published. Writers should include a daytime telephone number.
[/paywall]
