The Consequences of Drunk Driving in Malaysia

Posted on October 5th, 2009

Unlike in England, Australia, Germany and even in other western countries, where “drunken driving” is a major cause of accidents, in Malaysia, the cause of accidents due to drivers who are “drunk” is surprisingly negligible.

In the west, weekends are usually meant to be allotted for drinking revelry. But not in this country, Malaysia, no such celebrations take place here.

Malaysia being a multi-racial country, the Malays, profess the religion of Islam. Drinking alcohol is considered “haram” or against the teachings of the religion.

The Chinese and the Indians do engage in drinking alcohol. Especially during occasions as wedding dinners, birthday celebrations and festive holiday, but the number of drivers involved in drunken driving cases is surprisingly small in number.

But the Akta Pengangkutan Jalan (A.P.J.) 1978 or better known in English as the Road Transport Act 1978 has a few sections which caters for alcohol related cases.

First and foremost, a Malaysian driver is prohibited to use alcohol and drugs or “dadah”. For alcohol, be it known, a driver’s blood system should perpetually remain at 0.00 percent. Any trace of alcohol would be deemed as an offence.

Sections 44, Sections 45(1), Sections 45(A) and Sections 45(B) all deal specifically with alcohol related offences.

Maybe readers would wish to inquire “How do I end up being arrested for drunk driving offences?”

During road blocks, conducted by the

1) J.P.J. Authorities

2) Police Authorities

Drivers are checked. Licenses, road taxes and I.C. and others are amongst the documents checked. Some J.P.J vehicles and cars are equipped with equipments to measure the alcohol content of a driver’s breath.

The above equipment or machine is known as the Breathalyser. This machine confirms the readings of the alcohol content of the driver’s breath.

Likewise, the police vehicles have similar machines in some of the vehicles for the same purposes also.

In some cases, drivers who are suspected to be drunk can also be “booked” or arrested. Police can then take them to the nearest hospital to check their breath, blood and urine samples.

If found to have contravened the law, the drivers would then be arrested or booked. Basically, the above are some of the steps taken to curb the problems of drunk driving.

This article deals solely with the question of alcohol only. Dadah or drugs which is also prohibited, will be covered in my next blog post.