Alcohol concentration: Necessary but consider the threshold

Police check alcohol concentration of driver - Photo: HONG QUANG

Tuoi Tre recorded some more opinions related to this issue.

* Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Thanh Cong (Deputy Head of the Inspection Committee of the Traffic Police Department Party Committee - Ministry of Public Security): Necessary for 4 reasons

Current regulations in our country strictly prohibit driving a vehicle with alcohol concentration in the blood or breath (Clause 6, Article 5 of the Law on Prevention of Harmful Effects of Alcohol and Beer 2019).

Currently, the draft Law on Traffic Safety and Order, chaired by the Ministry of Public Security, continues to strictly prohibit the above behavior. Not only now, but previously, when drafting the Law on Prevention of Harmful Effects of Alcohol, there were opinions suggesting consideration and claiming that such regulations were "too strict" or "not suitable to the customs of a part of the Vietnamese people".

At the same time, there are also opinions that we should refer to international experience, because currently in the world there are 20 countries that prohibit alcohol concentration levels of 0 like in Vietnam while the remaining countries set minimum limits.

However, the reality of controlling alcohol concentration for road traffic participants in recent years shows that the regulation prohibiting "driving a vehicle on the road with alcohol concentration in the blood or breath" is necessary for four reasons:

Firstly , regulations such as the draft Law on Road Traffic Order and Safety are based on the viewpoint that "the lives of traffic participants are paramount" to ensure the health of traffic participants, avoid alcohol abuse, and minimize accidents.

Second , many people believe that drinking a little alcohol will not cause an accident while driving. However, according to medical experts, bodily dysfunctions appear even after drinking a very small amount of alcohol.

Third , over the past years, the Ministry of Public Security has directed the traffic police force and local police to increase patrols, control, and handle violations that mainly lead to traffic accidents, including the topic of drivers violating alcohol concentration.

In 2023, there were 770,374 cases of alcohol concentration violations on the road, accounting for 22.63% of the total number of traffic violations handled. This has contributed to reducing accidents, limiting damage to people and property.

From there, the habit and awareness of not drinking alcohol while participating in traffic and if drinking alcohol, using public transport are gradually formed by the vast majority of people. However, accidents due to alcohol concentration violations still occur with many cases causing particularly serious consequences, requiring drastic measures, including continuing to strictly prohibit the practice.

Fourth , current legal regulations on alcohol concentration are basically stable; the effectiveness of controlling and handling violations of alcohol concentration when participating in traffic has been proven in practice.

Changing the regulations may cause confusion and lack of feasibility, such as people having difficulty determining how much alcohol they have consumed while driving; many people who have drunk alcohol find it difficult to control themselves...

In addition, when drivers are fined for alcohol concentration, there will be resistance against the traffic police. In particular, traffic accidents related to alcohol concentration may increase again.

* More specific research is needed

According to the List of specialized biochemical technical processes issued with Decision No. 320 issued by the Ministry of Health in 2014, in the section with detailed instructions on sampling procedures, read the results on ethanol quantification (alcohol concentration quantification).

Accordingly, the normal value of the body is below 10.9mmol/l (equivalent to 50mg/100ml). Also according to this guideline, ethanol concentration from 10.9 - 21.7mmol/l will show symptoms of red face, vomiting, slow reflexes, and decreased sensitivity. With alcohol concentration of 21.7mmol/l, there will be signs of central nervous system inhibition. Alcohol concentration of 86.8mmol/l can be life-threatening.

According to Dr. Nguyen Huy Hoang - Vietnam - Russia Hyperbaric Oxygen Center (Ministry of National Defense), this is a classification of alcohol concentration thresholds corresponding to the level of manifestation of health and life effects according to medical expertise. From a medical perspective, the human body still has alcohol concentrations, although at very small values, due to metabolism after eating foods and the body's natural fermentation process. However, currently, legal documents do not have regulations on natural alcohol in the body.

"Currently, there is still a lot of public debate about whether there is a natural alcohol concentration in the body or not? Because some people think that they do not use alcohol but still have an alcohol concentration. Therefore, what needs to be done now is to have clear research on this data," Dr. Hoang commented.

* Consider adding threshold provisions

After Decree 100 came into effect, some people said that their commercial insurance refused to pay for traffic accidents because they violated the alcohol concentration according to the law. However, they affirmed that they did not use alcohol and that their blood alcohol concentration was very low, below 10.9 mmol/l.

Having had a traffic accident due to a fall in October 2023, Mr. Truong Cong Son (Hanoi) shared that because he was sick before that, he did not drink alcohol for a week. However, when receiving his medical records to settle his life insurance, he was rejected because the blood test results detected alcohol concentration.

On this issue, a medical expert said that there should be more regulations on the alcohol concentration threshold after a traffic accident. He stated that according to the current regulations of the Ministry of Health, people who have traffic accidents are required to have their blood alcohol concentration tested. Also according to the regulations of the Ministry of Health, the normal value of the body is below 10.9 mmol/l.

"Therefore, to ensure the rights of people in this case, we need to consider adding regulations on the blood alcohol concentration threshold after a traffic accident," he said.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/nong-do-con-can-thiet-nhung-can-nhac-nguong-20240223075134056.htm