Breathe deeply – drivers in France to carry own breathalysers!

The French have a very particular reason for asking for this extra requirement. It seems, contrary to the popular British attitude that we’re ‘the only Europeans with a drink problem’, France has a very high drink driving fatality rate.

In fact, about 30% of all road deaths in France are alcohol-related. And since 2007, alcohol has been the leading cause of road fatalities in France, ahead of all other factors, including speeding.

So perhaps they have good reason for the rule, and maybe it will be enough of a deterrent to reduce drink driving deaths? This looks like a legitimate means of stopping drink driving, rather than stopping drinking – and I’m all in favour of that, for sure.

But whether or not the plan works, I can see several other possible outcomes.

The problems of personal breathalysers

Firstly, it will surely result in a massive expansion in the market for these devices. This begs the question – have the people manufacturing or marketing breathalysers had a say in getting this requirement brought into law?

Secondly, I foresee a potential problem when there’s a dispute over the accuracy of one of these devices. I’ve never been breathalysed for real (the closest I’ve come was to have blown into one at a police breathalysers demonstration), but presumably we can have confidence that the expensive and regularly calibrated ones police use are accurate and can be relied upon.

But what happens when someone who has taken a reading from their own ‘domestic’ breathalyser, later finds themselves on a charge because it was inaccurate? A driver might be up in front of the French equivalent of the magistrate’s court initially, but they could then take a claim against the authorities or breathalyser company through the European courts.

Obviously, the French seem to have a fairly serious drink-drive problem, and on the face of it, I reckon this looks like one means of making the population (literally) self-regulate. If it were to work, it would surely bring positive change. But could it end in a litigation nightmare?

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