If you are a regular driver on Kenyan roads and you enjoy
your tipple, you must have wondered if it is possible to beat or trick the
alcoblow gadget and pass the test.
Alcoblow is a breathalyzer device used by Kenyan traffic
police to determine blood alcohol concentration (BAC). The gadget has proved a
nightmare for Kenyan drivers. Hundreds have been arrested, fined and even
jailed for driving under the influence.
There are several misconceptions around the issue of whether
the device can be tricked and we hope to separate fact from fiction in this
article.
Drinking lots of water before you leave the bar will
lower your BAC
This is fiction. The amount of water you drink does
not affect the length of time it takes your body to break down
alcohol. Water only prevents you from getting dehydrated and can lessen the
effects of a hangover.
On average, it takes one hour to break down one unit of
alcohol. The following are the units of alcohol contained in several drinks
common in Kenya ..so do the math.
One unit of alcohol is equal to 10 ml of pure alcohol. The
following are the approximate units in popular Kenyan drinks:
- 2.1
units in a 175 ml glass of wine (12%)
- 3
units in a 250 ml wine (12%)
- 2
units in 473ml of low-strength lager, beer or cider (2.5 – 3.5%) e.g.
White Cap Light, Tusker Light
- 3
units in 473ml of higher-strength lager, beer or cider (5 – 6%)e.g.
Heineken, Tusker Malt, Summit Malt, Tusker, Pilsner, Whitecap, Summit etc
- 1 unit
in a tot measure of spirits (25ml) e.g. Viceroy, Richot, Smirnoff,
Jameson, Johny Walker, etc
The length of time to break down alcohol is also affected by
a person’s:
- weight
- gender
- age
- metabolism
- the
amount of food eaten
- type
of alcohol consumed
- medication
Holding Your Breath and Pretending to Blow into the
Device
This will hardly fool the usually hawk-eyed police officers.
In fact, it is a bad idea to try this because holding your breath allows
alcohol to accumulate in your lungs and potentially inflate the actual BAC
reading when you eventually blow into the device (and you will!).
Hyperventilation May Beat Alcoblow
The only way you could potentially get away drink driving is by hyperventilating a few minutes before you blow into the device. This involves breathing in and out deeply for about two minutes. A decades-old study found that breathing in and out deeply or engaging in vigorous exercise a few minutes before being tested can lower your BAC by as much as 10%. So if you are only slightly above the legal limit, you could try hyperventilating and you just might pass the test.
How Do I Drive a Car While I Am Drunk?
Well, here’s the
thing. If you get in the front seat of your car and start it while you’re
wasted, you can get arrested for 24 hours or longer and issued a DUI. Even if
your car doesn’t move.
Now if you do start
moving, you can potentially hit and kill pedestrians, other cars, animals,
drive through a home and the list goes on. Texting while driving increases the
likelihood of an accident by 23%. Think of being wasted as texting while
driving on steroids. That 23% number skyrockets up.
Everyone hits the
points I made above though when discussing drunk driving. No one ever talks
about how much time is wasted or how much money it
costs to get a DUI after you get caught. So I will. It’s easy to make things
sound theoretical in your head, but when you know about the financial
consequences, that may hold more weight. I know it does for someone like me.
So now we know that
you can go to jail and kill someone. But what are the after effects if you are
caught?
1. Hiring a Lawyer.
(Average cost $5,000)
2. Multiple Court
Hearings.
3. Community Service
for over 100 hours.
4. Alcoholics
Anonymous classes. (If you miss a class or can’t afford the fees, you have to
do more classes or the judge can send you back to jail)
5. Have a
breathalyzer placed in your vehicle. (This has a monthly fee that is nearly as
high as $100 and even if you had drinks the night before and you need to get to
work in the morning, you won’t be able to start your car since the alcohol is
still in your system)
6. Get drug tested
regularly.
7. Being on
probation.
8. Getting tossed
back in jail for missing fines or an AA class or community service, while just
trying to balance everything out so you can keep a stable job.
I’m sure there are other parts I’m missing here, but if you don’t want to spend a few vacations in jail or have an extra $20,000 laying around to cover all these astronomical costs and the loss of work you will be encountering, then I wouldn’t recommend drinking or driving.
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