TTC GROUP BACKS RANDOM BREATH TESTS - Monday, January 21st, 2008
Graham Wynn John Kavanagh
The organisation which re-educates the majority of convicted drink drivers in the UK is backing a Government plan to introduce random breath testing for drivers.
The TTC Group, of Hadley Park, Telford, said tougher enforcement would lead to a reduction in drink driving and bring the UK into line with the rest of Europe and other countries worldwide. The UK and Denmark are the only two European countries which do not have random testing.
New South Wales in Australia introduced it in 1982 and saw an immediate 22% drop in the total numbers of fatal crashes and a decline of about 36% in alcohol-related fatal crashes.
TTC Group director Graham Wynn OBE, whose organisation educates more than 10,000 convicted drink drives each year, said that it would act as a “successful deterrent” if drivers could be stopped at any time and breathalysed.
“Half of the UK’s drink drive deaths are in young drivers aged between 17 and 29. This is one way in which we can reduce those tragic statistics. It is long overdue.”
He said he visited the Netherlands in 1998 when police sealed off the main bridge and breath tested every vehicle leaving the city of Rotterdam.
“That was nine years ago. Every driver leaving Rotterdam was breath tested.”
Mr Wynn, who received the OBE for services to road safety, said that blood alcohol levels must also be cut from 80 to 50 to fall in line with the rest of Europe.
TTC trainer John Kavanagh who teaches convicted drink drivers about alcohol said that he was breathalysed for the first time in his life while on holiday in Australia.
The 64-year-old ex-detective superintendent, said: “The only way to prevent drink driving is to detect it. If people believe they will be caught then they won’t do it.”
“My son-in-law has been breath tested about 20 times over the past ten years. Everyone expects it and they just don’t mind. It took just 20 seconds for me to be breathalysed in a road check in Victoria. It is accepted police behaviour and no-one bothers.”
3.4 million breath tests were carried out across the state of New South Wales in 2005. Highly visible checkpoints are established on main thoroughfares and passing drivers are chosen at random and breath tested.
All drivers are given a breath test, regardless of their manner of driving or police judgement on the likelihood of whether they had been drinking.
About one million tests are administered each year to a driving population of three million.
In New Zealand breath tests are not random but compulsory for all drivers.
The UK Government will unveil their plans for random breath testing within the next few weeks.
For more information contact the TTC Group on 0845 270 4380 or visit www.ttc-uk.com or www.brake.org.uk
