[imagesource:here]

Looks like Saffas will still be able to drive with a touch of alcohol in their systems.

It also looks like local drivers won’t need to graduate from a proposed ‘provisional licence’ to get their full driver’s licence, either.

That’s because these proposed amendments to the National Road Traffic Amendment Bill were rejected by the portfolio committee on transport last Friday.

The National Road Traffic Amendment Bill was introduced in October 2020 to address gaps and loopholes in the National Road Traffic Act No. 93 of 1996, per BusinessTech.

The act deals with the registration of driving schools, the registration of persons who manufacture, supply or sell number plates, and driving under the influence.

The Department of Transport submitted the bill after driving school scams started popping up, as well as an increase in road fatalities caused by drunk driving, which transport minister Fikile Mbalula planned to limit.

The controversial amendment in the bill asking to make the accepted concentration of alcohol in a driver’s bloodstream zero instead of 0,05 grams per 100 millilitres of blood was thrown out:

The committee rejected the amendment based on arguments that some medicines [like cough syrup], foods and religious practices would leave trace amounts of alcohol in the system, which could lead to arrests based on false positives.

Public backlash also led to the rejection.

That means the law remains, allowing 0,05 grams per 100 millilitres for normal drivers and 0,02 grams per 100 millilitres for professional drivers.

TimesLIVE with more:

Mbalula said the bill’s main focus was to reduce road carnage as SA records about 14,000 road deaths a year and remains one of the world’s most dangerous countries to drive in. It estimated that 58% of all collisions on the country’s roads were attributed to alcohol, and Arrive Alive reported that half the people who die on SA roads have a blood-alcohol level above the legal 0.05g per 100ml limit.

However, in rejecting the zero-alcohol driving limit the portfolio committee instead called for improved enforcement of existing laws to help improve road safety.

The idea to introduce a new type of licence in SA referred to as a ‘provisional licence’, was first proposed in 2020, while an explanation of provisional licences was proposed as far back as 2014.

But the committee rejected the amendment of this ‘provisional licence’, so it remains that South Africans will be given two years to get their driver’s licence after receiving a learner’s licence.

The finalised bills are being debated by members of parliament and when they are green-lit, they will be published.

[sources:timeslive&businesstech]