Crumbs! Easter bun fools breathalysers
YOU’RE a motorist and love your amagwinya or hot cross buns?
Go ahead and gobble up without any fear of getting into trouble with the law. Traffic police have set standards to deal with foods that can give a false positive test on alcohol breathalysers.
These include drinks and food containing ingredients such as yeast, raisins and some fruits.
A video that went viral on social media yesterday sent shock waves across the country when it suggested that motorists could be arrested due to false breathalyser readings.
The video showed two Nelson Mandela Bay municipality officers demonstrating how hot cross buns gave an impression that one of them had drank alcohol.
Before eating a hot cross bun, the officer’s reading is 0.00mg. But after eating it, his breathalyser reading jumps to 0.21mg. This is just below the legal limit of 0.24mg.
A food chain said their hot cross buns were alcohol-free, but contained ingredients that might give false alcohol readings.
“The false-positive reading in the video is most probably due to the yeast and fruit, which may cause inaccurate breathalyser readings, as was first reported in Australia in January 2019,” Checkers said.
Launching the Easter road safety campaign earlier this month, Transport Minister Blade Nzimande said officers would be armed with the new Evidential Breathalyser Alcohol Test kit.
The kit was launched in the Western Cape in 2016 and aims to provide quick data on motorists’ alcohol levels.
The Joburg metro police got the go-ahead from the National Prosecuting Authority in December to use breathalysers at roadblocks.
Motorists should not fear that they could spend a night in jail for nibbling
amagwinya or hot cross buns, metro police spokesperson Wayne Minnaar said yesterday.
“There’s a lot of food that contains alcohol, like that cross bun and cough mixture,” he said.
But the alcohol in these stuffs dissipates after 20 minutes, he said: “That is why we only do the breathalyser tests 20 minutes after you have eaten or drank liquor.
“When we test you immediately after eating the bun, the test will give a mouth alcohol reading. If we wait 20 minutes after it’s gone into the stomach, the reading will be zero,” Minnaar said.
Despite the video that went viral, motorists should rest assured they will not fall victim to wrongfully arrests on the road.
“There’s nothing to worry about,” Minnaar said.
“But people must not try to use the buns as an excuse when they are stopped on the road.
“They must not say they ate a hot cross bun because we’ll wait 20 minutes and then do the breath test and get a proper reading.
“We will wait for 20 minutes and then do the reading. We’ll watch you. You can’t eat the bun for the next few minutes,” Minnaar said.