By SEAN DOUGLAS Saturday, January 12 2008

DRIVERS can breathe easy as President George Maxwell Richards has not yet proclaimed the Breathalyser Bill, formally known as the Motor Vehicle and Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill 2006.

As the country enters the Carnival season of revelry and ends a previous year where 210 people were killed in road accidents, the Breathalyser Bill which would empower police officers to test suspected drunk drivers, continues to languish on the statute books.

While President Richards has given his assent to the Bill, yesterday a spokesman at President’s House could not say whether or not the law had been proclaimed, but referred Newsday to the Government Printery (which publishes the TT Gazette listing all new legislation) which had no evidence of any proclamation.

Parliamentary sources told Newsday the Bill has not been proclaimed and is therefore not in effect.

Opposition Chief Whip Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj yesterday criticised the non-proclamation of the Bill.

He said this omission was typical of the fate of legislation under the PNM Government, as he recalled the non-implementation of the Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) Bill 2006 and Equal Opportunities Bill 2007, plus legislation to compensate crime-victims.

“You have a lot of other laws for the benefit of the country which have not been implemented and I’m not surprised they have not had any breathalyser legislation implemented. This is something that is urgent and will prevent deaths on the road, but the Government doesn’t seem to care. This is incompetence.”

If it was in effect, drunk drivers would face a $5,000 fine and six months jail for a first offence, a $10,000 fine and 12 months jail, disqualification for a second offence at the court’s discretion, and permanent disqualification for a third offence.

The Bill empowers police officers to demand samples of breath, and in certain instances samples of blood, from suspected drunk drivers. President Richards assented to the Bill on July 26, 2007 but to date the Bill remains of no effect.