Renewed appeal for breathalyser test

As the country emerges from the second wave of COVID-19, the Barbados Road Safety Association (BRSA) is appealing to the Royal Barbados Police Force (RBPF) to make haste with the implementation of measures that will bring “drunken drivers” to justice.

Sharmane Roland-Bowen, the BRSA’s president, on Tuesday, acknowledged that despite the existence of legislation approving the use of breathalyser testing, lawmen have been unable to implement the measures due to the nature of the equipment.

“We know there is COVID and to administer the breathalyser, you need to have a certain distance because you have to give the person the breathalyser and that person has to take off their mask and blow into it. So we are not making one type of person safe while endangering the life of another person,” Roland-Bowen told Barbados TODAY.

“The police officers that would have to administer this, we still need to look at their safety and take it to heart and I do believe in the interest of safety, I believe it is on the cards and it will soon be here.

“As we see, things are letting up a bit, I believe that the training should start soon if it hasn’t. I don’t think it has, if not, I think we would have been told. But I do believe this is time now to get the officers trained toward the correct use of administering the breathalyzer tests, but no, we are not giving up on that.

“That is a fight that we are fighting until we see it on the streets and drunken people are barred and deterred from coming on the streets when they have had too much to drink,” the road safety advocate added.

The law which allows the test to be administered was effected January 1st, 2020. Implementation was however stalled pending officer training and a public awareness campaign. (KS)