Windhoek
The City of Windhoek will convene a disciplinary hearing next week after one of its bus drivers was detained for drunk driving while on duty.
The suspect was found drunk while he was transporting passengers over the festive season. Corporate communications manager at the City of Windhoek Joshua Amukugo informed New Era yesterday that bus driver Theofillus Kamuro’s disciplinary hearing is scheduled for next week.
“There was a problem finding a chairperson because most people were already on holiday. The bus driver is not driving until the outcome of the hearing,” he said. In November New Era reported that a municipal bus driver was allegedly found drunk behind the wheel while driving a busload of 98 domestic workers to various drop-off points in Windhoek. He also faces charges of overloading the bus by as many as 18 people, as the bus has seating capacity for 65 people and 15 standing only.
Kamuro had almost double the legally allowed alcohol limit in his bloodstream when they conducted a random breathalyser test in a police operation along Otjomuise Road that morning. The legal breath alcohol limit is less than 0.24 mg in 1000ml of breath, but the driver cracked the meter at 0.77mg.
Almost all the passengers use the bus on a daily basis and some said they were highly unimpressed by this development. “We could have been involved in a major accident without knowing what the cause was,” said one of the commuters at the time.
Senior manager at the MVA Fund Call Centre Sidney Boois was quoted as saying the interventions by law enforcement agencies were necessary, as road accidents continue to be a pandemic that needs remedial action. He said interventions must be consistent.
“These interventions must be consistent. It must not be seasonal. The only reason a person will not drink and drive on any road is when there is a possibility of getting caught. We need to increase that possibility,” Boois said.
Boois said the teams would stop and test drivers for all sorts of transgressions, even if it means commuters would be stranded at such points. “We will continue with education and awareness to make road users aware of the risks involved until we see a change in behaviour.”
He said 70 percent of road casualties involve passengers and that the police would continue with vehicle occupant protection (seatbelt safety) to reduce the risk of injury by at least 40 percent.
“We need to decrease the road safety risk. It is against the law to drink and drive, as one’s ability is reduced and so an intoxicated driver risks everybody in the car,” he explained.