“I am from [the office of] Mr. X, so you don’t need to make me take a breath alcohol test,” said a drunk driver to a traffic policeman.

Mr. X is the name of the leader of a certain department of police or a government office of a certain level. It is still debatable why violators often introduce themselves as friends or relatives of state leaders, especially police leaders.

One person even threatened police that he would drink sewage water if he was fined.

Some agree to hold the breathalyzer in their mouth, but refuse to blow into it.

Many others decline to use the device because it may “give me an infectious disease.”

In short, they try to ‘invent’ creative reasons to shun breath alcohol tests by police because they know for sure that their blood alcohol concentration surpasses the legal limit to drive.

During the last days of 2014, traffic policemen in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh have launched campaigns to prevent drunk driving and impounded hundreds of vehicles for violations.

On the street

At the intersection of Hao Nam and De La Thanh in Dong Da District, Hanoi, on the evening of December 17, traffic policemen stopped a drunk driver.

Instead of blowing into the breathalyzer, the driver staggered after a policeman and kept repeating, “I am from the office of Mr. T. Why fine me?”

He later added, “I know I am wrong, but I just drank a little bit at a wedding party. It’s nothing. Forget it.”

The “little bit,” as admitted by the drinker, showed on the breathalyzer as a 0.337mg alcohol concentration per liter of air, while the limit is less than 0.25mg.

Half an hour later a Toyota Camry was pulled over but the driver refused to open the door. A man in the passenger seat stepped out and held the shoulder of a traffic policeman.

He said, “I know I am wrong. I just want to say that I beg you for this. We are all from Mr. X.” Mr. X. is an official from a local traffic police department.

After that, he called someone and asked the policeman to talk to him, but he turned him down.

After blowing into the breathalyzer over ten times, the machine indicated that the driver’s alcohol concentration was far higher than the allowed level. The car was impounded.

Before getting into a taxi the two men turned back and swore at the policemen.

At midnight on December 27 on Ta Quang Buu Street in District 8, Ho Chi Minh City, a drunk driver was pulled over. He kept talking on his mobile phone with someone and gave the phone to policemen to prove that he was a friend or relative of a policeman.

Then, he slid some bank notes into the hand of one of the policemen, who rejected the money, as witnessed by Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper journalists.

The driver walked away, swearing under his breath.

First Lieutenant Doan Huu Van of the Hanoi traffic police department recollected that he once stopped a drunk driver. He begged for a while and began threatening, “If you don’t ignore my fault, I will drink sewage water.”

Problems

A health worker tests the alcohol level in blood samples taken from drivers on a street in Dong Nai Province, located in southern Vietnam. Photo: Tuoi Tre

But a breath alcohol test sometimes turns dangerous for the taker, as the following case.

Nguyen Van Chin, 44, in Go Vap District, Ho Chi Minh City, died two days after being stopped for such a test.

Traffic policemen blocked him for drunk driving. They told him they would impound his motorbike but did not give him paperwork for the case.

So, Chin refused to let his bike be taken away. Right after that, two young men and a woman in civilian clothes took him to a corner on the street and beat him. He was hospitalized, relayed the incident, and kicked the bucket two days later.

Some drunk drivers have even thrown away and damaged breathalyzers of policemen. Others have argued with policemen and torn their clothes.

Some restaurant owners have their staff drive the vehicles of customers on certain stretches of road to avoid traffic policemen stationed in the vicinity.

In 2009, traffic police in the southern province of Dong Nai and Ho Chi Minh City even took blood samples from drunk drivers for alcohol tests. However, this method was canceled following an outcry from the public.

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