Just about everyone’s had a night where they’ve gone out on the town and had more to drink than they’d planned. Not everyone, however, has chosen to get behind the wheel of a car while intoxicated. That’s hardly a bad thing – 13% of automotive fatalities in the UK in 2018, after all, involved alcohol to some degree, and those drivers who choose to give over their keys are doing what they can to lower that percentage.
Unfortunately, though, alcohol lowers a driver’s inhibitions and makes it more difficult to stay awake on longer drives. By the time last call comes around, she may not understand that she’s not in the physical condition to drive home. She may not think to take public transportation or to call any of her friends.
In these situations, tools like the alcolock can come in handy.
In light of the increasing number of alcohol-related fatalities across the UK, the EU is in talks to discuss the introduction of the alcolock as a preventative measure to keep intoxicated drivers from getting behind the wheel. What is the alcolock, though, and how is it supposedly going to keep drivers safer?
The alcolock: an introduction
Despite their name, alcolocks do not work like traditional locks. Instead, they serve as breathalysers located inside of a person’s vehicle. These tools require drivers to breathe into them once they enter the car. The alcolock will then determine the blood alcohol content of the driver to see whether or not they’re safe to drive.
Drivers who have a BAC above the UK’s legal limit will be unable to start their cars as the alcolock attempts to prevent careless driving.
At this point in time, alcolocks do not come equipped in new cars. Instead, they’re more frequently installed after a driver has received a DUI in the UK or affiliated EU country. The party who installs the alcolock will be able to set the limit the lock will activate at.
If the driver exceeds that set level, the car will not start and they will not be able to adjust the level at which the alcolock is set until three hours after their initial test.
The history of the alcolock
Even though the EU is only now moving to discuss the different applications of the alcolock, the technology behind this preventative device has been on the market for some time. It was originally created by Borg-Warner’s research division in the 1970s. The research division eventually evolved into the United States’ Alcohol Countermeasures Systems, Incorporated, where it worked out of Illinois to create a tool that would prevent intoxicated drivers from being able to start their cars.
While the initial groundwork for the alcolock was established in 1970, the journey to the tool the EU wants to implement today was a long one. The aforementioned ACS and its Canadian branch underwent restructuring in 2005 courtesy of Felix J.E. Comeau. It was after that restructuring that the corporation was able to present the prototype for the alcolock to the EU and other interested government bodies.
The alcolock: ongoing discussions
At this point in time, the alcolock is in use in some industries. Professional drivers – lorry drivers, taxi drivers, and bus drivers, for example – often have alcolocks installed in their vehicles courtesy of their operating fleet. Alcolock has thrived in the public transportation industry due to rising concerns about passenger safety across the EU.
France and Finland are also in the process of establishing laws requiring bus drivers – specifically, those individuals responsible for the transportation of children – to install alcolocks in their applicable vehicles.
Employers who operated fleets would likely consult each employee’s legal history – ranging from speeding fines to DUIs - prior to installation. That, however, is speculation posed by a variety of studies released regarding alcolocks and has yet to be discussed by the EU at large.
In general, it seems as though the EU wants to invest in a trickle-down policy – one which would see alcolocks installed in heavier commercial vehicles prior to mass installation. If this method were to hold true, professional drivers, be they in lorries or in small business vehicles, would likely see alcolocks on any cars, vans, or heavy machinery used to transport dangerous goods, passengers, and so on.
The installation of alcolocks: opportunities and threats
When, though, would the alcolock come to the commercial vehicle? That remains to be seen. Given that the EU is still in the midst of discussions regarding the non-commercial use of alcolocks, drivers may safely suppose that the installation of these preventative devices remains several years in the future.
That potential installation poses an interesting conundrum for drivers inside and outside of the EU. On one hand, alcolocks could pair neatly with the automotive industry’s V2V and V2I ambitions. On the other hand, some drivers blanch at the thought of a preventative tool sharing BAC data with outside sources.
Further, safety concerns – should an alcolock fail, for example, or the driver in question lack the ability to reach out to a third party for help after getting locked out of their car – have yet to be addressed by manufacturers and the EU alike.
In short: conversations about the alcolock are raising a plethora of questions on an international scale. Whether or not drivers will see them on commercial vehicles before the end of the decade remains to be seen.