In 15 buses of the Brno transport company, devices are installed that measure drivers to see if they drank alcohol before driving. They will not be able to leave the depot until they have passed the breath test. In this way, the company monitors the safety of operation and eliminates the need to set aside an employee to test the driver, the company’s spokeswoman Hana Tomaštíková announced.
Until now, random checks of drivers had to be done, which had to be provided by one of the employees. The new procedure is part of the year-round Brno campaign safely with the Brno City Transport Company. “This year we are focusing on safety issues – whether traffic, drivers, passengers or pedestrians. Although our drivers are responsible and have zero interception in preventive in-service inspections in recent years, we cannot and do not want to relax in them. If this technology will prove that we will include it in the tender conditions for tenders for new cars,” said CEO Miloš Havránek. Installation of one device costs CZK 50,000.
Random checks at the drivers are done by the dispatcher before the start of the service, and during the day at the final stations by the dispatcher staff and the driving technician. It is held around 13,000 a year. In the last seven years, none of the drivers on duty have “inhaled”, except for two with residual alcohol. But they couldn’t serve you either.
Similar methods are common abroad for public transport drivers, in some places taxi drivers have duties. In the near future, all new passenger cars should have so-called alcohol locks, and from this year they will have to be ready for it. And in some European countries, locks are already mandatory because drunk drivers cause a significant proportion of accidents.
Source: CTK
Photo: Police CR
