Breathalyser ignition lock trial makes headway in Parliament

print this

The proposal for a pilot project to introduce ignition lock breathalysers in the cars of persons convicted of drunken driving offences met with a positive response in Parliament on Tuesday. This is unsurprising, since it was Parliament itself that called for the new legislation from the government.
      The device is designed to prevent a car from being driven while the driver is intoxicated. According to the draft bill before Parliament, a court could order the installation of an ignition lock in a convicted DUI driver's car at his or her own request. In such a case the driving-ban handed down by the court would become a suspended one: the trial period, or the period when the ignition lock would need to be installed in the car, would last for one year.
     
The convicted offender would pay the costs of installation, around EUR 2,000. He or she would also have to take part in a dependency assessment programme - no permit to drive would be forthcoming from persons shown to be addicted to alcohol or other intoxicants.
     
The intention is to continue with the experiment for a three-year period from July of this year. MP Raija Vahasalo (National Coalition Party), who was behind the initial proposal, said she did not feel that after the trial period there would be any real likelihood of going back to the status quo.
      A good many Parliamentarians went further, predicting that the breathalyser ignition lock could become a common in-car device, and even a standard piece of equipment on all models.
      The bill will now go for consideration and completion in the Parliamentary Committee on Transport and Communications.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Police report dramatic surge in drink-driving cases this year (11.5.2004)
  Sleeping drivers believed to be behind more accidents than officially acknowledged (16.3.2004)
  Breathalyser ignition lock trial proposed for DUI convicts (30.1.2004)

Helsingin Sanomat