The tragicomedy of a driver blowing his breathalyzer in Nghe An

The driver calmly locked the car door and left.

On the evening of January 3, the Traffic Police - Order of Vinh City Police set up checkpoints to check alcohol concentration on some streets. According to records, most vehicle owners when requested to be checked seriously carried out. Drivers were quickly tested for alcohol concentration using a measuring device. After more than 2 hours, 6 drivers with alcohol concentration exceeding the permitted level were issued administrative fines.

Among them, there was the case of Mr. PVM (39 years old, from Thanh My commune, Thanh Chuong district, Nghe An), who did not cooperate when the working group requested to check his alcohol concentration.

Specifically, at around 10 p.m., at the checkpoint on Le Nin Street, when the patrol team signaled to stop a black 4-seater car for an alcohol test, the driver, who appeared to be drunk, got out of the car, locked the door, and drove away without following the team's orders.

Traffic Police of Vinh City Police towed Mr. PVM's car to the Team on the evening of January 3. Photo: Archive

The task force coordinated with the local police to persuade the man to take a breathalyzer test, but he still refused. A short while later, he called a woman and said that she was the one driving the car, not him. However, the woman did not admit that she was driving the car and left.

The task force then made a record of the incident, sealed the car and took it to the police station. For this violation, according to Decree 100/2019/ND-CP, the PVM driver will be fined 35 million VND and have his driver's license revoked for 23 months. This is also the first case of a car driver resisting a breathalyzer test in Nghe An province to date.

"Force" traffic police to answer the phone

On January 5, the working group of Dien Chau Traffic Police Station set up a checkpoint to check alcohol concentration on National Highway 1A right in front of the station. At 5:00 p.m., the group requested to stop a car with license plate 29A-034xx driven by a man to check his alcohol concentration.

As soon as he pulled over and rolled down the window, the strong smell of alcohol wafted out of the car. However, when the traffic police officer asked to check his breathalyzer, the man not only did not cooperate but also raised his voice and cursed. A moment later, seeing the traffic police officer’s resolute attitude, the man “lowered his voice” and asked to call a “relative”. He then called someone and “forced” the team leader to answer the phone, but his request was refused.

Most cases of alcohol concentration violations tried to call for intervention but were unsuccessful. Photo LT

Finally, the traffic police convinced the driver to measure his alcohol level. However, after a while of holding his breath and refusing to blow, the traffic police had to demonstrate before the man would blow properly so that the machine could give the result, which was 0.349 mg/liter of breath. With this result, after making a record with confirmation from the violator, the car was temporarily impounded by the working group.

Hearing the high fine, the construction worker couple asked to hand over the car to the police.

At 8:00 p.m. on January 30, at Le Nin Avenue, the Traffic Police Team, Vinh City Police continued to take action to handle vehicles violating alcohol concentration according to Decree No. 100/2019/ND-CP regulating administrative sanctions in the field of road and railway traffic.

At around 20:44, Mr. NKP in Hung Dung ward, Vinh city, was driving a Suzuki motorbike with license plate 37L3 - 17xx. The police checked his alcohol level and found it was 0.111 mg/liter of breath. The police started working and made a record of the violation. At first, Mr. P. happily cooperated, but when he heard the police announce that the vehicle would be detained for 7 days, his driver's license revoked for 10-12 months, and a fine of 2.5 million VND, Mr. P. was really shocked.

Mr. NKP and his wife were shocked when they were informed of the fine. Photo: Archive

According to Mr. P., today his family members had a New Year's Eve meal in Cua Lo, he did not dare to drink much, only 2 glasses of wine. However... Continuing Mr. P.'s words, his wife sadly said that with the high fine, while the motorbike was the means for the couple to go to work as construction workers, its value was not enough to cover the fine, so the couple would not take the motorbike "The motorbike was sold for 2.5 million, so there was no other way but to hand it over to the traffic police" (!). However, according to the authorities, Mr. P. still had to be handled according to regulations.

Drinking alcohol from morning to evening is still "sticky"

Sharing with us about a memorable, somewhat "expensive" lesson, Mr. NQC in Quy Hop district said: When asked to check his alcohol concentration, he was very confident because he went to a wedding in Quynh Luu in the morning, drank alcohol, but then he took a nap, did not drink in the afternoon and did not return until the evening, but when he saw the results, he could not help but be startled. "While blowing and looking at the measuring device, the alcohol concentration was reported at 0.102 mg/liter of breath, which surprised me quite a bit, even though it was measured a second time," said Mr. C.

From his own case, through research, Mr. C. shared: “It could be because I drank too much or my body's ability to eliminate alcohol is slow. Because the time depends on each person's constitution and ability to eliminate alcohol. In fact, some people have good elimination, and in less than 12 hours, there is no alcohol concentration left, but some people still have it after 24 hours.”

Therefore, everyone needs to consider and measure their physical condition to decide how much and how long to drink before driving. As for myself, from now on, I will not drink much, and will not be punished for violating alcohol concentration again.

Driver complies with alcohol test. Photo: Archive

Many "difficult" cases

Lieutenant Colonel Tran Duc - Deputy Head of the Traffic Police Team of Vinh City Police said that alcohol concentration testing is concentrated in the evening, so it is somewhat complicated, most drunk people lose control of their behavior and speech. "Many people also curse, insult, say bad words to the working group, even... threaten". However, if you do not have experience in dealing with it, you will immediately feel upset.

Not to mention, many violators also claim to work here and there, know this person or that person to create pressure. For example, in the case of Mr. NM, residing in Nghia Dan, when the force checked his alcohol concentration at 0.105 mg/liter of breath, he got out of the car, claiming to be a reporter for XXXX Newspaper, but through the introduction letter, he was a collaborator in the Central Highlands provinces.

Many traffic police in localities, especially in mountainous districts, also said that, although they had given very detailed instructions: "Put it in your mouth and blow out a long, steady breath. If you do not consume alcohol, the result will be zero." However, there were people who just held the tube in their mouth and then let it out, refusing to blow, and some even justified it by saying "it's too short to blow."

A traffic police officer in Que Phong said that there were cases where people refused to blow because they thought the blowpipe was dirty, "the previous people used it, it's too dirty, I won't blow", even though it was explained that each person had a different blowpipe, there were cases where the blowpipe had to be replaced even though it had been replaced before...

In these cases, the traffic police must clearly state that if the person does not comply, they will be dealt with in another way, which is to make a record of the non-compliance with the request of the authorities, only then will they accept.