Tuesday 10 July 2012

Mandatory In-Car Breathalysers to come to UK?


As of the 1st of July, it is mandatory for all people in France to carry a Breathalyser testing kit in their vehicle with them at all times. It is hoped that this will reduce the amount of alcohol related accidents and deaths in France. If you do not comply with this new rule then you will receive an 11 euro fine. This new rule will soon become common knowledge among French citizens, but when UK holiday makers travel to France they may be caught out by the rule.
The French drink drive limit is already lower than the UK limit, so this could see a lot of confusion. The UK limit is 80 milligrams per 100 millilitres of blood, whereas the French limit is 50 milligrams per 100 millilitres of blood.

There have been lots of talks about this new rule coming to the UK, but what would happen if it actually did? It may very well improve the situation we have with drink driving in the UK. But on the other hand it may just cause unnecessary confusion and unfair fines. Something does need to be done about the level of drink driving in the UK, but is this the right way to go about it?

The new rule has only just come into force in France, so we are not yet able to see if it had had a positive or negative effect on drink driving. The fines for not having a breathalyser in France are very small, making us think that it is not really going to be much of reminder for people to carry one with them. However the fines for actually drink driving a much higher, which is some comfort to peoples road safety.

We have to wonder what the fines would be like in the UK for not carrying a breathalyser if this rule was passed, would they be high? Or would they be quite low like France? How would the British public react if this rule was adopted? For the moment the rules in the UK will stay as they are, but we think it is likely that there will be similar changes with our system to try and reduce the drink drive problem, just like France.

Do we really think that carrying a breathalyser with you will change anything anyway? How many people who have had a drink or two are likely to use the device and how many people who did test themselves would think twice about driving? It is very hard to say how much of an impact this would have and what the reaction will be to this.

So if this rule was passed in the UK what would you think?

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