Addressing the harmful use of alcohol - WHO Western Pacific Region

9. Deterring drink-driving
Blood alcohol level provides accurate evidence for impairment. Modern breath-testing
equipment, however, gives traffic police a practical means of check for impairment at the
roadside and the law should allow such test results to be used as evidence in court. The
usefulness of the BAC level as a strategy is reduced if breath/blood analysis technology is
not readily available to police. Once the BAC level is established in law and the technology
is available, a commitment to enforcement is needed. Several countries, such as Viet Nam
and Mongolia, report a need for capacity-building with breathalyser equipment and police
training. The Lao People’s Democratic Republic reports receiving breathalysers as part of an
aid package, but there is no current budget for random breath testing work by police, although
a third of injury admissions to Vientiane’s largest hospital relate to drink-driving.
Random breath testing (RBT) is an effective means of ensuring compliance with drink-driving
laws. The key element of RBT is random but highly visible police enforcement. “The community
must understand and believe that if they drink and drive there is a strong likelihood of both
detection and prosecution” (Global Road Safety Partnership 2007).
The speed with which a penalty is applied also affects its effectiveness. Legislation which
provides for automatic administrative suspension of driver’s licences allows immediate action
when drivers are detected with BAC levels beyond the legal limit.
The World Health Organization’s publication Drinking and Driving: A Road Safety Manual for
Policy Makers and Practitioners provides detailed evidence and information for development
of drink-driving policy (Global Road Safety Partnership 2007).
Issues to consider
Defining both breath and blood alcohol limits
In some countries there appears to be confusion about how blood and breath alcohol
concentrations are defined. Sometimes, the concentrations do not match accurately. The
ratio of alcohol concentration between blood and breath is approximately 1:2100. That is,
the weight of alcohol in 100ml of blood is the same as in 210 litres of breath. A number of
jurisdictions, including Victoria, Australia, and New Zealand, set a double definition in law of
50mg per 100ml blood or 210 litres of breath.
Implementation of Random Breath Testing
The aim of the Random Breath Testing (RBT) is to create a sense of unease about drinking and
driving among potential offenders, by giving the impression that monitoring and enforcement
of the drink-driving laws is unpredictable, unavoidable and ubiquitous. RBT is performed at
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