More heat on Cape’s drunk drivers

Western Cape transport authorities are set to open two more alcohol testing “Shadow” centres in the province to intensify their campaign to get drunk drivers off the roads and behind bars.

The centres, in Worcester and either Vredenburg or Cape Town’s northern suburbs, are set to open in a few months’ time, the Department of Transport and Public Works has confirmed.

This will bring to four the number of Safely Home Anti-Drunk-driving Operations War Room (Shadow) facilities in the Western Cape. The new centres are expected to “mirror” the state-of-the-art detention and testing centre in Athlone and will be built in partnership with SA Breweries (SAB).

Suspected drunk drivers are taken to the centres to measure their breath alcohol content. If tested at above 0.24mg of alcohol per 1 000ml of breath, the person is arrested, sent for blood tests, and detained.

The first centre was opened along Vanguard Drive in Athlone two years ago. A year later, Transport and Public Works MEC Robin Carlisle opened the second in George.

The Shadow centre in Worcester was almost complete, and officials were still determining whether to build the fourth centre in Vredenburg on the West Coast or in the northern suburbs, said Carlisle.

“We are discussing the location with the SAPS and other law enforcement units, because it’s them who bring in the most drunk drivers.

“The centres are very expensive - they cost between R2.5 million and R3m - but they are necessary to get drunk drivers off the roads. The psychological impact on the driver is enormous. The centre has a restraining impact on drivers.”

Provincial traffic chief Kenny Africa said there was a definite need for more Shadow centres, especially after the Western Cape “became known nationally” as the province with the highest number of drunk drivers in the country.

“This is the reality of the situation, and it’s killing innocent pedestrians and motorists every month,” said Africa. “We arrest drunk drivers across the province every week. We need these facilities in the Boland, the West Coast and the northern suburbs.”

Africa said drunk driving had become “an illness” in the Western Cape.

“We are fighting this evil every weekend. People are simply not listening. But the message is clear: we won’t take any nonsense. If you are drunk, we will arrest you.”

Since December 2009, 8 669 suspected drunk drivers have been tested at the centre in Athlone and 468 at the centre in George.

And despite no final ruling on the use of the Dräger breathalyser, tests using the device would continue at the centres across the province, said Carlisle.

Last month, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said it was confident that the Dräger would pass legal muster in the Western Cape High Court, despite its decision to have all drunk driving cases involving the device provisionally withdrawn or postponed.

The case is to be heard on July 28.

Western Cape NPA spokesman Eric Ntabazalila said all cases on the roll involving the device would be provisionally withdrawn and newer ones postponed.

The NPA’s decision followed a ruling in the Durban Magistrate’s Court that cleared a suspected drunk driver who was tested on the device.

But Carlisle warned suspected drunk drivers that the NPA’s decision to postpone their cases did not mean that they were “off the hook for long”.

“When we win that case in the Cape High Court, the NPA will then bring all those cases back on to the roll,” he said.

“We are confident that we are going to win that case. There is nothing we have heard so far in the court case that worries us. But if we don’t win it, we are going to appeal the decision all the way to the Constitutional Court.”

Clifford Joseph Hendricks, 27, of Kewtown, who is at the centre of the case, was arrested on January 23 last year for alleged drunk driving.

It previously emerged in court that Hendricks had been taken to the Shadow centre in Athlone and tested with a Dräger. It measured the concentration of alcohol in his breath as 0.95mg/1 000ml, nearly four times the legal limit.

Hendricks pleaded not guilty and is now contesting the efficacy of the instrument.

The city’s mayoral committee member for safety and security, JP Smith, said he supported the Shadow centre initiative “100 percent”.

“We want the Shadow centre in Athlone to run at full steam. Not much is happening there now because of the Dräger case. We support Dräger and want it to be used. Waiting for blood test results takes too long. The Dräger is reliable enough.” (From IOL)