The City of Johannesburg says its waiting for the Gauteng Director of Public Prosecutions to give the green light for the controversial Dräger breathalyser to be used at roadblocks.
Johannesburg Metro Police Chief David Tembe released the city’s own crime statistics for the first time on Monday, which show a slight decline in the number of people arrested for drunk driving between January and August, with just over 7,000 suspects being handcuffed.
In 2011, the Western Cape High Court dismissed drunk driving charges against a man after finding problems with the Dräger breathalyser used to test his blood alcohol limit.
Tembe says three extra mobile offices will be rolled out soon to test drivers’ blood alcohol level at roadblocks.
He says metro police have a unit to follow up and ensure successful prosecutions.
“And they have to answer what happened to those cases, if somebody has done it deliberately, we’ll ensure he pays for it.”
Johannesburg Mayor Herman Mashaba has asked metro police to prioritise drunk driving crimes and to get the national police to support them.
“I cannot understand, for the life of me, why national government is not as a serious one.”
Metro police officers have attended to over 6,000 road crashes from January up until last month….
