Harsher laws to deter would-be offenders of drink driving welcomed – Voon

Voon Shiak Ni

KUCHING: Political activist Voon Shiak Ni has said that she welcomes harsher laws as deterrence for would-be offenders driving under the influence of alcohol nationwide.

She said that this was in spite of statistics showing that drink driving was not a big contributing factor to the number of fatal car accidents, she told The Borneo Post today.

“For the past three years – from year 2017 to 2019 – official statistics revealed a figure of only less than 0.1 per cent of the total fatal car accidents in the country were alcohol-related.

“For example, in the year 2018, out of 5,870 cases of fatal road accidents nationwide only three cases are alcohol-related,” she said.

However, the implementation of harsher laws to avoid accidents by Parliament was welcomed as it does no harm and would also serve as a good deterrence for would-be offenders, she stressed.

Voon said harsher penalties were also better approach than the call to ban the sale of alcohol, which was unconstitutional.

“Banning alcohol is not solving the root of the problem of road accidents. Irresponsible and reckless drivers are the main reason why accidents happened,” she pointed out.

On the fact that there had been no cases of alcohol-related accidents reported for the first half of this year in Sarawak, Voon said that this showed that Sarawakians drank more responsibly and were law-abiding.

The Federal Cabinet has given its approval in principle to amend Sections 41 to 45 of the Road Transport Act, allowing for harsher penalties against those found to be driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol.

Transport Minister Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong said this on Wednesday in Parliament in Kuala Lumpur during the question and answer session.

The Attorney General’s Chambers has gone through the draft Bill that will be presented for the Cabinet’s final approval today (July 17) prior to its tabling later.

“Under Section 44, currently the maximum jail time for is 10 years. The amendment will see first-time offenders facing 15 years imprisonment for the first offence and 20 years for the subsequent offence.

“Currently, the maximum fine for those found guilty is RM20,000. So, for example, the amendment might see it increase this to RM100,000 for the first offence and RM150,000 for the following offence. We will also suspend their drivers’ licence for 20 years, from 10 years (now),” said Wee.

Section 44 covers those found guilty of driving under the influence of intoxicants such as liquor and drugs.

The minister stressed that those convicted of causing death through drunk driving would face even stiffer penalties including possible mandatory imprisonment, but said that he would only elaborate once the amendments were tabled.

He also disclosed that Putrajaya had decided to adopt the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) benchmark for the permissible alcohol content in an individual’s system.

“To give you an idea, right now we are very lenient when compared to WHO standards. We allow 35 micrograms per 100 ml of breath. Based on WHO’s standards, we will reduce it to 22 micrograms per 100 ml of breath.

“Second, our current blood alcohol content (BAC) stands at 80 milligrams (mg) per 100 ml of blood. We will reduce it to 50 mg per 100 ml of blood. Third, is alcohol content in urine. Currently, it stands at 107 mg per 100 ml of urine, we have cut it down to 67 mg per 100 ml of urine,” said Wee.

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