BEIJING, Oct 19 — China is considering imposing fines on passengers who fail to make reasonable efforts to stop a drunk person from driving.
The proposed law, which was broached right after a two-month nationwide campaign against drink driving, is proving to be highly controversial.
According to a survey by Chinese portal Sina.com, 71 per cent of the respondents are opposed to the suggestion.
In the first half of this year, the number of drink-driving motorists booked in China jumped by 9 per cent, compared to the same period last year. Worse, there were a spate of fatal cases and these attracted widespread media coverage.
In August, a 16-year-old waitress walking along a pedestrian crossing in eastern Hangzhou city was killed by a Porsche sport utility vehicle driven by a young man. Angry netizens found out his identity and posted his address, telephone number as well as the identity of his father and fiancee online.
Public anger at drink driving has prompted the courts and government to take more decisive action.
Last December, 30-year-old Sun Weiming in southwestern Chengdu city became the first person in China to be sentenced to death for drink driving, after his car crashed into another, killing the driver and three passengers inside.
Police had prosecuted Sun under the more serious charge of “endangering public security”. His sentence was later reduced to life imprisonment.
To prevent a spike in road accidents during the National Day holidays, the government launched a nationwide war in mid-August against drink driving. Police set up more roadblocks and heftier fines were imposed on those caught flouting the rule. In all, 28,000 drivers were detained in a
13-day period across the country.
Other changes include longer jail terms for drink-driving motorists. Those charged with the offence could face up to seven years” jail instead of the current three years. Multiple offenders could also face lifelong driving bans.
While the clampdown on drink driving has been widely applauded, most Chinese feel that taking passengers to task for the irresponsibility of a driver would not be fair.
Passengers cannot always tell if the driver is drunk, they say.
This is especially so in China since the legal limit here for blood alcohol level in drivers — 0.02, or 20mg per 100 ml of blood - is much lower than elsewhere, making any quantity of alcohol consumption a possible offence. The limit in Singapore and the United States is 0.08.
Fuzhou-based lawyer Sun Ruizhuo told a newspaper in his city: “Passengers sometimes have no way of knowing if the driver has been drinking. Does that mean that when we take cabs, we have to carry a test kit to make sure the cab driver is not drunk?”
Some people argue that passengers have only a moral obligation to persuade drunk drivers not to drive, since they lack the power to stop them from doing so.
“Legally speaking, passengers do not exercise any public power, and hence they cannot be expected to take any action,” said Qiao Jianshe of the prosecutor’s office in eastern Shandong province.
“Policing drink-driving motorists is the job of the authorities. They should not pass this burden to ordinary citizens,” said Li Yingfeng, a resident in Shanghai.
Still, there are some who favour the proposed regulation.
“There are clear signs of drunkenness — slurred speech, delayed movement, alcoholic breath. If a passenger observes all these signs and fails to take any action, then he should definitely be fined,” said an official from the traffic police unit in the north western city of Xian.
“If we allow someone who has been drinking to drive when we know his act is illegal, then we are not being responsible to the public,” said Si Min, 30, a civil servant.
The proposal is still in its feedback-gathering phase after the Ministry of Public Security released it on Oct 3 for discussion.
Meanwhile, in Nanjing, capital of eastern Jiangsu province, police are considering a proposal to publish the pictures and names of drink-driving motorists in the local media as a deterrent measure.
Last year, the city used this “name and shame” strategy on drivers who beat the red light, and the number of violations dropped significantly. — Straits Times
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1) The passenger is someone who doesn't know a thing about driving.
2) Driver drinks, but remains sober when driving.
3) Passenger tried to convince him not to drive, but he drives instead.
4) There is no other transportation during that time.
So, will the passenger be fined too?