People who drink and drive need to run a higher risk of being breathalysed, reckons Jan Jambon, Home Secretary, as he sets a new goal: a third of all drivers to be spot-checked each year as of 2017, he said during on the news on VTM television. The N-VA minister wants more testing to be done, and not just during the BOB campaigns (annual Flemish-language campaigns against drink-driving). Jan Jambon says this goal is achievable because new breathalysers can run more tests faster. The Home Secretary also plans to assign more personnel to this task, which according to him, can be achieved with a reassignment of duties.
The federal police force is happy that the minister aims to reduce the number of fatalities on the roads, but reckons that checks are more efficient when scheduled for certain times and places. “We must target night-time and weekend accidents specifically and run spot-checks at the worst danger spots,” points out police spokesperson Peter De Waele.
Alcohol was a factor in 10,108 road accidents in 2014.
(Source: Belga)
