Alcoblow culprits vow never to drink and drive again
Scores of Nairobi middle class residents were on Monday charged with drunk driving along various city roads.
Proceedings at the court were interrupted with bouts of laughter as some of the drivers vowed never to drink and drive again.
“This is the last of my last,am not going to drink and drive again,”said a driver prompting laughter in the court room.
The drivers, who all pleaded guilty to the offence, were fined according to the amount of alcohol recorded by breathalyzers.
Those whose breathalyzers recordings read 0.99 were fined Sh20, 000 while those above 1.00 and above were fined Sh30, 000.
“Those whose readings are more than 1.00 and above means they took about six beers while the others below,” said senior principal magistrate Enock Cherono while fining the drivers.
In sentencing them, the magistrate noted that the maximum fine for the offence is Sh100,000 but considered the fact most of them pleaded guilty to the offence .
The magistrate also considered mitigation of the drivers’ majority of whom were remorseful for their actions.
Traffic Police officers started using breathalyzers, popularly known as alcoblow, to arrest drunk drivers in December last year.
The breathalyzers usually detects the amount of alcohol one has consumed when a person blows to it through a small mouthpiece which is discarded after use.
Most of the motorists walked to freedom as they managed to pay the fine imposed by the court.