Police is planning to introduce breathe analysis equipment (breathalyser) in the country soon to address the drink and drive affecting the city and the rest of the country.
Police Commissioner Frank Prendergast confirmed yesterday saying they are currently working with some stakeholders to acquire some breathalyser to use as part of a measure to tackle the issue of drink driving in the country.
“When we acquire the equipment, they will address the issue of drink driving issues in a more effective and modern way.”
He said the breathalyser has been use in other countries but not in Solomon Islands and this is the very first time that the country will acquire and use the equipment.
Ask about how the breathe analysis equipment will work, he said, if police suspect a driver is the under the influence of liquor, police will ask the drive to breathe into the device to measure the alcohol content in his/her system.
“The device will determine if the driver is safe to drive or not.”
He said, in most country the safe limit would be 0.5 reading on the device and any reading above 0.5 will be regarded as unsafe to drive.
Current several traffic police officers are undertaking a training on how to use this device.
The country expects to see the use of breathalyser towards the end of this year or early next year.
He said they are also looking at imposing a weekly traffic management approach which will see police conduct regular traffic check in the city to look for drunk drivers as they are the main source of traffic accidents in the city
By BIRIAU WILSON SAENI
