Countries where alcohol is prohibited: Brunei, Kuwait, Libya, Maldives, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. “Many countries believe that the safest amount of alcohol to drink before getting behind the wheel of a car is nothing. National Road Traffic Act (NRTA), Act 93 of 1996, as amended. Article 65: Driving under the influence of alcohol or intoxicating drugs with narcotic effects or with excessive levels of alcohol in the blood or breath “More than 30 countries in the world do not allow you to drive with alcohol in your system – while alcohol is banned in a handful of other countries.” The South African Road Traffic Act 93/96 has been in force since March 1998. Whether you drive a rental car in your hometown or on unfamiliar roads, these laws are extremely important. These laws are in place to protect the community and ensure that drunk drivers are reprimanded. • The legal blood alcohol limit in South Africa is less than 0.05 g per 100 ml • The legal blood alcohol limit in South Africa is less than 0.24 mg per 1000 ml of breath Simply put, this means that 2 drinks in 1 hour will allow you to exceed the limit. Here is a breakdown of alcohol units by beverage type: • 1 x 75 ml glass of wine = 1 unit • 1 x 250 ml glass of wine = 3.3 units • 1 x shot/shooter = 1/2 unit in most cases • 1 x spirits cooler = approx. 1.25 units • 1 x beer = 1.5 units or maybe more • 1 x cider = 2 units • 1 x 25 ml tote alcohol = 1 unit • 1 x cocktail = between 2 and 4 units Source: Drunk driving in South Africa Professor Hennie Klopper BA LLD (UFS) is Professor Emeritus at the University of Pretoria and a lawyer at HB Klopper in Pretoria. The blood alcohol limit, or blood alcohol level (BAC), is a way of measuring blood alcohol levels by recording milligrams of ethanol per milliliter of blood.
A concentration of alcohol in the blood: 0.05 grams per 100 ml (all drivers), professional drivers: 0.02 grams per 100 milliliters. Breath alcohol content: 0.24 milligrams per 1000 ml (all drivers), professional drivers: 0.10 milligrams per 1000 ml. A person detained for an alleged violation of any of the provisions of this section shall: – (b) not smoke while in custody until the sample has been taken. No person may refuse to have a blood sample or breath sample taken. Drunk driving is not to be taken lightly in South Africa, and impaired driving is a very serious offence. The seriousness of the drunk driving charge should be sufficient to deter anyone from driving while intoxicated, but it can also have much more serious effects that can occur if drivers do not pay attention to their blood alcohol levels. Do you remember the legal blood alcohol limit in South Africa without having to Google it? Otherwise, don`t worry, you are in the majority. You may also not know that South Africa`s blood alcohol limit (the amount of alcohol you can have in your system and still be allowed to drive) is looser than in other countries. Your body needs about 1 hour to process 1 unit of alcohol. Ideally, you should avoid sitting in the driver`s seat of your car after drinking alcohol, but at least this way you can know how long it takes for alcohol to leave your system. According to Dr.
Charles Parry of the Medical Research Council (MRC) Alcohol and Drug Abuse Research Group, 40% of drivers who die on the road have an alcohol content of more than 0.08 g/100 ml. Members of the South African Police Service, various Metropolitan Police Services and other law enforcement agencies are more likely to block roads and occupy other checkpoints to deter people from driving under the influence of alcohol. If you are stopped at such a roadblock and have consumed more than the legal limit of alcohol you are legally allowed to consume while driving, you will be arrested and charged with driving under the influence of alcohol. You will be detained until you are able to pay the bail (in some cases, the deposit may be refused). Depending on your previous convictions and the circumstances of your arrest, you may be fined R2,000 or two years` imprisonment, or both. You can also lose or have your driver`s licence revoked. And of course, you will have a criminal record! “Our world map shows some of the differences in drinking and driving limits in different countries, which is especially interesting for anyone planning a trip abroad and wants to drive in another country,” a StressFreeCarRental.com spokesperson said. Maybe you`ve been “lucky” so far and haven`t been caught drunk driving; Because you think you`re capable of driving drunk. But what are the effects if you get caught? If you are convicted of drunk driving in South Africa, you face up to 6 years in prison.
You can also face fines of up to R120,000 and your driver`s licence can be suspended. You will also have a criminal record, which can have serious consequences for the rest of your life. Of course, the worst-case scenario is that you could kill someone else on the street, your loved ones or yourself. In 2015, it was reported that 44,526 cases of drink-driving were withdrawn by South African courts in the 2012/2013 financial year for various reasons (Wilmot James “The state of forensic chemistry laboratories in SA” (www.politicsweb.co.za, accessed 8.4.2021)). A significant proportion of these withdrawals were due to deficiencies in the maintenance and operation of technical equipment (including breathalyzers), inadequate or inadequate storage and storage of samples, and invalid sample analysis (see Ursula Ehmke-Engelbrecht, Lorraine du Toit-Prinsloo, Christelle Deysel, Joyce Jordaan and Gert Saayman “Tackling drunk driving: questioning the validity of blood alcohol concentration analysis” (2016) 54 South African Crime Quarterly 7). Insurers have the right to refuse accidental damage if the driver`s blood alcohol level is above the legal limit. This clause is included in almost all car insurance in South Africa. Until now, it has been difficult to determine whether people were over the legal limit and whether their ability to drive was impaired.
The new zero-tolerance approach eliminates this grey area. Globally, South Africa (SA) has the sixth highest per capita alcohol consumption.