JOHANNESBURG, South Africa – A proposed amendment to the National Road Traffic Act to reduce to 0% the legal blood alcohol for driving shows the government might not understand understand the requirements to do so.
The manging director of MasterDrive, Eugene Herbert, told The Corner: ”Changing the BAC limit is unlikely to have the desired result. A driver undeterred by the penalties for the current level will still not hesitate to drive.
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”Driving behaviour must change and that relies on educating drivers and implementing harsher penalties. Driver behaviour will only change if drivers develop a desire and have a motivation to change behaviour.”
MasterDrive says it has taught clients that alcohol affects reaction time. ”A better general attitude toward safe driving would achieve better results if as much effort was placed into awareness campaigns.
PLUG PUNISHMENT
Herbert explained: “Drivers would change their behaviour if they understand how drastically their driving competency is affected. Potential offenders would see the consequences of their actions without ‘the pain’ of a real alcohol-induced crash.
“If more time were spent on the punishment for drunk driving it could see better results. Penalties could affect the rest of their life and they need to realise this – a higher level is unlikely to yield the necessary results.”
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