LARSOA backs random breath tests – but RAC and Home Office oppose the move

While the Home Office has opposed European pressure for random breath testing, LARSOA chairman Steve Whitehouse has spoken out in support of the proposed move – providing it is accompanied by a reduction in the legal limit and awareness campaigns to highlight the dangers of drink driving.

The European Commission wants random tests across its member states to cut drink-driving and boost road safety. The president of the European Traffic Police Network (Tispol), Ad Hellemons, warned that the Commission would attempt to make its recommendation a directive if it is not followed. "We can't understand why Governments would want to protect drink-drivers," he told BBC Radio Five Live.

"In principle LARSOA would support the introduction of random breath testing," Steve Whitehouse said. "We have been very successful over around 20 years in reducing carnage on the roads as a result of drinking and driving. This is largely due to the success of road safety education and publicity campaigns, as there has been no significant change in the law during this period.

"There is still a small minority of hard core offenders who are not susceptible to publicity, and random breath tests would allow police officers to identify and deal with these people. It would also allow them to nip the growing menace of drug driving in the bud.

"However, LARSOA believes that random testing should be accompanied by a reduction in the legal limit and more awareness campaigns to highlight the dangers of drink driving," Steve Whitehouse concluded.

However, Edmund King, executive director of the RAC Foundation, takes a different view. "Random tests are not the most effective way of catching drink drivers," he says. "The police might have to stop 1,000 motorists to catch five or 10, whereas if they target 100 people they might catch 100."

It is the first time Europe has made such a recommendation and the majority of member states already carry out random tests. Under current British legislation, police can only give drivers a breath test if they believe that they have been drinking alcohol.