Kolkata traffic police faces backlash over reintroducing breathalyser tests amid COVID-19 spike

Kolkata traffic police is facing backlash over the use of breathalysers as drivers undergoing drink-driving tests are calling it risky and unhygienic. The city’s traffic police reintroduced the test after a gap of 20 months at the backdrop of COVID-19 spike in the state.

Kolkata cops earlier said that they would use disposable straws in breathalysers. Despite the assurance, drivers insisted that most of the time only one common pipe was being used for the test.

Drivers allege that the experiments were carried out in several parts of the city at night in the name of testing with breathalyser

Commuters further claimed that the officials were not wearing gloves so they did not touch the pipes that were used for mouths. Sources told News18 that policemen often do not get time to disinfect the instrument or pipe as many drunk drivers flee during the process of disinfecting the device.

“It is unthinkable what would happen if the same pipe was used in someone else’s case by examining the breath of a person with a breathalyzer,” the report quoted doctors as saying.,