[imagesource: Matthew Jordaan/African News Agency]

Earlier this week, Transport minister Fikile Mbalula said that government plans to introduce new legislation that will see the legal Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) limit for drivers in South Africa reduced to zero percent by December of this year.

At present, South Africa has a legal BAC limit of 0,05% for citizen drivers (it’s 0,02 for professional drivers), which is the same limit imposed in many other countries around the world.

Usually, I would dismiss anything Mbalula says as nonsense, because he’s proven himself to an incompetent buffoon, shuttled from one cabinet position the next over the years, but safety on our roads is a topic that does deserve serious discussion.

After all, since alcohol sales resumed, there has been a massive spike in trauma cases at hospitals, many linked to road accidents, and South Africa’s road accident stats are significantly higher than most countries around the world.

Following on from Mbalula’s statements, the Automobile Association (AA) has weighed in, reports TimesLIVE:

Changing traffic laws relating to drink driving is meaningless and will be ineffective if current laws regulating alcohol and driving are not properly implemented and enforced first…

The association said drinking and driving can be more effectively combated by reducing the allowable alcohol limits for drivers, and that the courts should impose tougher sentences on offenders. The current enforcement of drunk drivers will not stop those who regularly exceed the limits because there are simply no consequences for their actions.

A zero BAC limit is not going to change this behaviour, said the AA.

Rather than dropping the BAC to zero, the AA recommends reducing the legal limit to 0,02.

The automotive body makes the point that what is required at this point is greater research on the matter, as current studies are “fragmented and disparate”, and present no clear, conclusive findings.

More from the Citizen:

[The AA] adds that, “we cannot have a situation where the government is guessing to what extent alcohol is a contributor of road deaths with no actual plan to deal with the road safety crisis in South Africa as a whole other than to amend the law”…

“There are practical, workable plans on the table to improve traffic law enforcement which were compiled by experts and traffic officers themselves. Yet there are those who seem intent on focusing on one aspect of road safety – drunk driving – as a panacea for road fatalities. It is, in effect, putting a band aid on a gaping wound with the hope that it will stop the flow of blood. It won’t,” it concludes.

If you’re looking for practical, workable plans, our Minister of Transport (the self-proclaimed, and apparently unaware of the meaning of irony, Mr Fix, as he has dubbed himself on Twitter) is not the man you want at the helm.

How are our trains looking, pal?

Ultimately, there should be meaningful, and impactful, discussions around the best way to make our roads a safer place.

As far as the AA is concerned, that has yet to take place.

[sources:timeslive&citizen]