Breathalyser test refused!

The mind boggles! I was shocked to read recently that a car driver was only fined Lm200 after he had been involved in a serious car accident, in which a motorcyclist and his pillion driver had been seriously injured when they crashed into his car. He...

The mind boggles! I was shocked to read recently that a car driver was only fined Lm200 after he had been involved in a serious car accident, in which a motorcyclist and his pillion driver had been seriously injured when they crashed into his car.

He refused a breathalyser test, although the police suspected that he had been drinking.

In most other European countries, refusing such a test involves a stiff fine, and an automatic suspension of one's driving licence for a minimum of a year.

Surely this judgment has opened the floodgates for drivers who have drunk any amount of alcohol before an accident to refuse a breathalyser test. All they stand to lose is Lm200.

A dangerous precedent has been set.

I can fully appreciate the Police Commissioner's frustration at the leniency and ambiguity of some court judgments.

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