I was encouraged this week to see news in the press that the Government is looking to modify existing legislation relating to the procedures for breath testing drivers in the UK.
At the moment, the Police can only conduct a breath test on a driver either at the scene of a crash, or after seeing some behaviour that gives them grounds to suspect that you've been drinking.
That requirement to justify their decision to conduct a breath test on you MUST cause arguments sometimes when drivers, the vast majority of whom would be okay with assisting the Police in random testing, feel criticised unfairly and are told they look like they're drunk when they're actually stone cold sober!!
The proposal from Government is to modify the procedures so that the Police may pull you over and breath test you without needing to give a valid reason.
In addition to a more amicable process when dealing with the innocent, these changes are also expected to lead to a greater chance of the guilty being caught "by chance" and therefore it is hoped that publicity surrounding the changes will act as a deterrent to reduce offending rates overall.
I think that most law abiding drivers would be in agreement with these changes and I think that most would want them bringing in sooner rather than later.
