The Law: Two Limits

Kenya sets alcohol limits under the Traffic (Drink-Driving) Rules 2026, enforced by breathalyser and backed by blood and urine measures. There are effectively two limits, and which one applies to you depends on what you drive.

The zero limit for PSV, commercial and school-transport drivers is the hierarchy of responsibility written into law: the drivers carrying the most passengers and the most harm potential are held to the strictest standard. For them, any reading above zero is an offence.

The penalty: driving over the alcohol limit carries a fine of up to KSh 100,000, imprisonment up to two years, or both, plus licence cancellation (commonly cited as one year on conviction).

Three procedural points worth knowing, all explicit in the Rules:

• "Drink-driving" is defined broadly — driving, operating, being in charge of, taking control of, or attempting any of these. You can be liable while stationary, keys in hand, without the vehicle moving.
• Accidents trigger testing. After a road traffic accident an officer may require a specimen from anyone they reasonably believe was driving — including, by written request to the treating doctor, a suspect who is a hospital patient.
• Refusing the test is itself an offence, carrying the Act's penalty. Refusal is not an escape route.

And the machinery has to be right — useful to know as a matter of your own rights. The breathalyser must be a KEBS-approved type, the officer trained and certified, a fresh straw used for each person, and the device calibrated to the manufacturer's schedule — a schedule a court may demand to see. These safeguards are what make a reading stand up, and their absence is a genuine line of challenge.