Alco locks

By James Disdale

18th July 2007

Road safety experts have renewed calls for alcohol locks on cars after the Government said it would look again at lowering the drink-drive limit.

Campaigners from the Guild of Experienced Motorists (GEM) are calling for the drink-drive locks to be built into all new vehicles. They stop drivers getting behind the wheel if they’ve had one too many.

GEM says it wants to see tougher action against drink-drivers, despite the move towards lowering the alcohol level from 80mg per 100ml to 50mg per 100ml. The group claims enforcement is limited, and expensive Government advertising campaigns warning of the dangers are failing to get the message across.

The only way to save lives, it says, is to fit cars with the locks, which shut down the ignition if the driver registers illegal blood/alcohol levels.

“The number of breath tests being carried out is dropping, as the police simply do not have the resources,” a Guild spokesman told us. “Fitting efficient ignition alcohol locks would control the risk.”

GEM also wants the devices retro-fitted to the cars of
convicted drink-drivers before they get their licences back.