I know I'm breaking my self-imposed intermission, but study is seriously boring.

I caught a ride to uni yesterday with mum (see my previous post about me and driving) so I was forced to listen to 3AW. Usually it's just old farts whinging about irrelevant things, but there was actually something interesting this morning. The host was getting a demonstration of alcohol interlock devices by Dräger Australia (I'm pretty sure it was them anyway) after one of Bracksy's many committees recommended they be installed on all new cars and a new drink-driving victims group, Working Against Culpable Driving, went further and suggested they be installed on all cars, new and existing. 3AW story here.

Alcohol interlocks are basically devices that prevent your car from starting until you pass a breath test. So you jump in the car, start power to car, blow then suck in the device, and if you're in the clear, start the car.

From the device's product info document

Why a blow then suck action? Apparently to stop you from circumventing the device by fitting a filled balloon on it and letting the air go. And apparently it's 'hard' to bypass it electrically.

But what if you get a mate to pass the test for you? This is one of the hardest issues to solve. No problems for this device though - it'll prompt you for a retest every 15 minutes (adjustable, but that's a possible setting), also stopping you from drinking while driving. Brilliant! Or is it…

From the device's instruction manual, page 12

Let's say you're doing a drive from the outer suburbs to the city, taking freeways where possible so the trip takes about an hour. That means you'll get prompted for a retest at least 3 times, if not 4.

So when your retest time comes, it starts beeping, giving you a few minutes to perform it. Now we all know how testy the coppers are over us even touching our mobiles when we're driving (even at red traffic lights), so obviously we have to pull over before doing the test. So we pull over, do the test and we're off again.

That's the easy situation.

What if you're on a busy freeway and unable to get to the shoulder lane?

What if you're in the no-emergency-lane Citylink tunnels? The latest incident with 3 people dying is still fresh in many people's minds.

What if you're stuck in a city standstill, unable to move? Remember, you are unable to do the retest because of the mobile phone laws (cannot be used even if vehicle is stationary, unless parked), which presumably apply given you need to divert attention from driving to do the retest, even if it's short. After all, a short mobile call isn't allowed.

Not to mention the beeping and impending car doom's probably driving you mental. As if we need more aggravated drivers on the road.

And what happens when you ignore or fail the retest? Well, according to Vicroads' guide for the system implemented for repeat drink drivers,

From the info booklet (page 20) on Victoria's Alcohol Interlock Program

Think of the traffic snarls as we see cars immobilised in the middle of lanes, blocking traffic, unable to move. What if just at that point in time you needed to accelerate to avoid a collision with a truck, then you get seriously injured? Who's responsible?

And that's only you. Now let's consider what happens when hypothetically, there's 100% penetration.

You would have thousands of people pulling over 24/7 to do their retest. We don't have that much space on our roads for that many cars to stop! Some inner-city roads don't even have shoulders! And think of how slow traffic would move with cars constantly needing to stop on the shoulder lane to do the retest! It's bad enough with drivers weaving in and out now, what's gonna happen when people HAVE to weave in and out just to get to a safe place to stop? Not to mention how goddamn annoying it'll be. Why should everyone be punished when a minority can't control themselves?

While some of the other bits of this device are well thought out, this bit clearly isn't. It is an idiotic idea thought out by someone who obviously doesn't drive, here at least. It's simply a ridiculous intrusion into the way we drive, and unless we get massive infrastructure changes to cater for the consequences of this, it's unworkable. Period. And without protection against drivers getting others to do the test, the device itself is ineffective - no, I seriously doubt the guilt of allowing a drunk driver to drive is enough to stop sober people from doing the test for them.

And this is coming from someone who dislikes driving anyway, and avoids driving when possible. Wonder what frequent drivers think...

Did I mention the device costs 1600 bucks, and 220 bucks to install per car? Not to mention the ongoing costs of consumables and calibration.

I'm getting all this info from the device manufacturer's website at http://www.draeger.com/STms/internet/site/MS/internet/AU-en/ms/Products/Detection/AlcoDrug/DragerInterlockXT/pd_draeger_interlock.jsp?KNC=BC-AP&HBX_PK=Interlock&HBX_OU=50, the Vicroads' Alcohol Interlock Program page at http://www.arrivealive.vic.gov.au/c_drinkinterlock.html and the radio segment yesterday morning. Hopefully I'm wrong about the how the retest works and its consequences, but if so, how will they still a third-party doing the test? This just sounds like someone desperately looking for something to endorse for their own purposes without considering the wider implications.

I don't claim to know how to solve the situation with drink drivers, but this clearly is not the right solution. I'm interested in seeing its effectiveness at the moment with repeat drink drivers, and how they're dealing with the device's interference with their driving.

P.S. And what if you have just used mouthwash, like when you're rushing out the door in the morning or late to your hot date? Well you're stuffed there too - you'll have to wait 15 minutes until the alcohol residue leaves your mouth, and no, rinsing with water doesn't work apparently.

From the device's instruction manual, page 8

UPDATE (2/6/2007): Added in 3AW story link and name and link for victims group. Plus clarified some bits. The blog at http://www.duiblog.com/ is worth checking out too - details a lot of the issues with drink driving in the US, in particular the court system, chain of evidence and accuracy of breathalysers. Did you know you can lower your BAC by hyperventilating before a test, and that the yeast in bread gives you a BAC?