Drivers not too keen on ignition interlocks

Drink and Drive, you're a bloody idiot. We all know it, we have all seen the ads and we all know, not to do it. Whilst here at CarAdvice we are not shy of criticising the state government's "Speed Kills" revenue raising campaigns, we are 100% behind the anti drink-driving campaigns.

Alborz Fallah

16:2723 August 2007

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Unfortunately, being the arrogant species that we are, there are some who still don't get the message, for those select few, there is the option of installing ignition interlocks, devices which will control the vehicles ignition and are activated by the driver (e.g. a breathalyser controls the ignition - if you're clean, it starts, if you're not, it doesn't).

Being the over cautious society that we are, many are trying to push for the next stage, so that all new vehicles come standard with these devices, regardless of driver history.

The argument? In the U.S. around 80 percent of drivers drink very lightly or not at all, and only about 0.5 percent of vehicle trips are piloted by drunk drivers. However 40 percent of the U.S. road toll (43,000) is caused by drunk drivers (no Australian statistics available from Australian Bureau of Statistics).

Since they can't stop the 0.5 percent, they want to inconvenience the 99.5 percent, a very American approach. Of course, this isn't going to happen here, Australians are not going to buy cars that come standard with these devices (are we?), and if we were forced to, we would simply remove them.

Obviously that's not going to work, so we move on to the next-next stage, smarter devices. Recently we showed you this Nissan concept, a car which doesn't simply rely on the breathalyser method, it can sense your odour, it can use the sweat from your palms and, it can even tell, by measuring your eye movement, if you are actually paying any attention to the road (it can even make you coffee...).

The question remains though, would you like your car to breath test you every-single-time you get in the car? Would you be happy to have your integrity questioned and be inconvenienced every time you get behind the wheel? If it means someone, somewhere, will end up walking home and possibly not run over your dog, or worse, your neighbour?

Tell us:

{democracy:8}