Leonardo Blair, Staff Reporter
PARTY-GOING drivers who love to drink, had better be on their best behaviour this holiday season. Police say they will be targeting motorists in an attempt to nab drunk drivers and bring them before the courts.
For several months, the police had been complaining that the breathalysers they had did not work. However, the programme got a boost two Mondays ago when new machines were handed over to them. Breathalysers are used to test the level of intoxication in suspected drunk drivers. With these new machines, the cops say they are ready to sober up tipsy drivers.
"We had some problems two months ago and on Monday of last week we got five new instruments from the Bureau of Standards. The police will be out on the road in full swing for the rest of the year, we have some SD2s. We will be on the look out for drunk drivers," said co-ordinator of the Breathalyser programme, Inspector Pauline Foster-Turner.
The breathalyser machines, the Intoxyliser 5000 and the SD2s (Handel), are used to test the amount of alcohol a person consumes and will come in handy in the police's current zero tolerance campaign against drunk driving.
The Intoxyliser 5000 is a machine from which court evidence is obtained. It gives a print out of details regarding the blood alcohol level of a suspected drunk driver, the arresting officer and operating officer's name, rank and other relevant information and is located at selected police stations. The other breathalyser machine is the SD2, which is a hand-held device used by police to administer on-the-spot alcohol/breath level tests on the road.
SCOUTING THE ISLAND
Inspector Turner told The Sunday Gleaner that since the beginning of last week she has been scouting the island to ensure that all 15 of the centres under the breathalyser programme were capable of testing for drunk drivers.
The only centres which have not been equipped with machines are those in Runaway Bay, St. Ann; Old Harbour and Central Village in St. Catherine, because there are no new instruments currently available for those centres.
In the meantime, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Tilford Johnson, said last week that the police would be enforcing the closing hours of premises licensed to sell spirits as part of their zero tolerance strategy aimed at reducing the number of traffic accidents during the holidays.
Under the Spirit Licence Act, taverns shall be open between 7:00 a.m. and 11:00 p.m. on weekdays and on Sundays from 3:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. Retail houses are open between 7:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. on weekdays.
The Act further states that the operators of taverns can apply for a special licence for a special occasion to sell alcoholic beverages up to midnight on any weekday.
