f a charge of endangering public safety, saying the defendant’s high blood alcohol level did not indicate that he could not drive safely, a newspaper reported yesterday. The judge ruled that the blood alcohol levels the Justice Ministry has laid down as criteria for drunk driving were not convincing to the court, according to the United Evening News.
The man, Chen Cheng-chieh, 32, was stopped by police last September in Taipei as he was driving after drinking, the paper said.
A test of his blood alcohol level resulted in a reading of 0.92mg/ml, almost double the 0.55mg/ml that the Justice Ministry uses as a criteria for charging drunk drivers of endangering public safety.
Such a criminal charge, which could result in heavy fines and imprisonment, was brought against Chen, who was found guilty and given a heavy fine by a summary court.
But the defendant appealed to the Taipei District Court, arguing that the alcohol did not have any influence on him driving safely.
He said he proved that by walking steadily along a straight line when police required him to do so.
The district court judge accepted his argument. The judge said the 0.55mg/ml criteria was only an arbitrary figure adopted by the Justice Ministry to make it easy for law enforcement officers to determine charges.
But the judge said blood alcohol levels alone could not be invoked as proof that the defendant could not drive safely.
The prosecution plans to appeal against the verdict, which it deems as an encouragement for drunk driving and a blow to the government’s campaign against it, the newspaper reported.
The prosecution maintained that the criteria was built upon medical research by many other countries on drunk driving.
Although Chen escaped the criminal charge, police were cited as saying that he would still have to pay a fine coming with the traffic ticket.
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