Freeman Razemba
Senior Reporter
Police have deployed breathalysers at roadblocks countrywide to crackdown on reckless driving by motorists under the influence of alcohol, especially this festive season.
Yesterday The Herald crew surveyed Mbare Musika, Dema, Marondera, Mazowe , Glendale and Banket where it witnessed police at roadblocks with breathalysers.
Some motorists driving under the influence of alcohol were arrested and their vehicles impounded.
Drivers faced prosecution at court.
This comes after the Government last month, handed over more than 100 state-of-the-art breathalysers to the police.
The equipment, acquired through the Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe (TSCZ), includes 100 breathalysers, 15 breathalyser printers and 1 000 disposable breathing apparatus.
The breathalysers represent a significant shift from previous enforcement methods. The devices provide quick, accurate, and legally admissible results by measuring the amount of alcohol in a person’s breath.
This eliminates the reliance on subjective assessments like slurred speech or unsteady movement, which are often challenged in court.
Under the Road Traffic Act, driving with a blood alcohol concentration of 80 milligrammes or more per 100 millilitres of blood is a serious offence. Penalties include fines of up to level 10, imprisonment for up to five years, or both.
Commuter omnibus and heavy-vehicle drivers face even harsher penalties, with jail terms of between one and 10 years.
Police Commissioner-General Stephen Mutamba said most of the accidents that have caused so much untold suffering across the country were as a result of human error.
“This speaks directly to our collective conscience as a people and should invoke individual commitment around collective efforts to enhance road safety.
“In this regard, we sincerely appeal to all Zimbabweans to observe road traffic rules and ensure that their driving conduct is in line with the country’s laws.
“Whilst we are sending this message at the onset of the Festive Season, we equally encourage that this should not be an occasional habit, but something which should be entrenched in our daily conduct in order to guarantee law and order on the country’s roads.
“Doing so would ensure that good driving conduct becomes part of our culture as a people.”
Comm-Gen Mutamba warned motorists against drinking and driving, saying they had deployed fully equipped officers on the country’s major highways.
“We take this concern seriously and, we will be out in full force on all the country’s roads during this festive season.
Those among us who cherish the habit of travelling at excessive speeds and enjoy drunken driving will indeed rue ever making such choices as the full wrath of the law will take its course against them.
“We are deploying fully equipped police officers on traffic enforcement points, roadblocks and highway patrols to ensure that the safety of all peace-loving Zimbabweans is guaranteed,” he said.
This week, the Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe (TSCZ) partnered with the National Committee on Drug and Substance Abuse to conduct awareness campaigns countrywide, urging motorists to obey traffic rules and regulations and against drunken driving to curb road accidents.
National Committee on Drug and Substance Abuse is an inter-ministerial body under the Office of the President and Cabinet tasked with coordinating the national response to the drug crisis.
This high-level committee is chaired by the Minister of Defence and War Veterans Affairs, Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri.
TSCZ and the committee have since joined hands to curb accidents by conducting awareness campaigns to curb road accidents caused by drunken driving and reckless driving.
The team yesterday, with the assistance of the police were manning a roadblock along Seke Road conducting such campaigns.
In an interview, TSCZ board vice chairperson Ms Lizwe Bhunu said they were educating motorists to obey traffic rules and regulations and avoid drinking and driving.
“It is our duty as Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe to make sure that we educate everyone in all the provinces so that they know what road rules are especially during this festive season.
“What we are doing is basically to educate them about the dangers of drinking and driving, avoid using mobile phones while driving and various other road rules and regulations,” she said.
Ms Bhunu said they were also urging drivers to avoid speeding, overloading as well as ensuring that they wear their seat belts.
She said they will continue with the awareness campaigns even after the festive season with a view to ensure that sanity prevails on the country’s major roads.
TSCZ managing director Mr Munesu Munodawafa said, “I think a unique feature of this education and enforcement point is that for the first time you are now seeing beyond the usual players, that is Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe, VID, RMT and ZRP, we now have the National Committee on Drug and Substance Abuse because we have seen that we have a problem of drinking and driving but we also at times suspect that somebody may have taken other intoxicating substances.
“So, we have teamed up together and this a very unique and starting point of that collaboration and we hope it will continue to grow.”
He appealed to motorists to continue obeying road rules and regulations and avoid crossing flooded rivers during this rainy season. National Committee on Drug and Substance Abuse official Mr Farai Dzoma also said they will continue collaborating with TSCZ and relevant stakeholders to hold such campaigns.
He said it was worrisome that some drivers had developed a habit of drinking and driving as well as taking other intoxicating substances, risking the lives of other road users.
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