Breathalyser turns forty

Last Modified: 09 Oct 2007
Source: PA News

The 40th anniversary of the introduction of the breathalyser - a device that has saved countless lives on UK roads - is being marked.

It was brought in the face of fierce opposition, by the then Transport Minister Barbara Castle.

Until October 9, 1967, there was no real scientific way to work out if a person who had consumed alcohol was fit to drive.

Offending motorists were sometimes asked to walk a straight line. Magistrates who needed to be convinced of an offence would be told by police that a driver's speech was slurred, his eyes were glazed, and that his walk was unsteady.

It was suggested that drivers suspected of being drunk should have to say: "Leith police dismisseth us", although it was argued that you could only get it right if you were drunk.

But with the advent of the breath test in 1967, everything became cut and dried. Anyone over the 80mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood mark would be automatically guilty and would get an automatic 12-month driving ban unless there were very exceptional circumstances.

For the minority of drivers who thought it perfectly normal to drink several pints and then get into their cars and career off at great speed, the game was up.

In the first 12 months of the breath test's introduction there were 1,152 fewer deaths, 11,177 fewer serious injuries and 28,130 fewer slight injuries.

However, it was not until several years later, when the Government began hard-hitting anti drink-drive TV and media campaigns, that the message finally got home.

More vigorous enforcement of the breath test and the Government campaigns finally persuaded people that those who drank and drove were social pariahs.

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