Derek Howe
lol, sucks to be a Frenchmen.
goodbye freedom.
Carlos Grados
This is a really important step in protecting people from people who drink and drive. I am happy to see France step up and take care of this avoidable and preventable problem.
PrometheusGoneWild.com
If they lowered the speed limit to 25MPH and put governors on every car they would save MILLIONS of people! When will the world wake up and realize driving fast in your car cost lives and puts a burden on the state. All you people who want to tool around in your cars at 55 are death mongers who are deaf to the toll speeding cars places on society...... Of course bicycles, skate boards and roller blades can go faster than 25, so everyone will have to have a GPS bracelet strapped to their leg. And there should be roadblocks every few kilometers to make sure the car governors are not tampered with or people have removed their leg bracelets.
Wombat56
According to their chart, France only scores 4 out of 10 for enforcement of blood alcohol driving levels.
Putting a lot more cops on the road at breath testing stations might be cheaper, and in the short term more profitable to the French government.
Mel Tisdale
With many year's experience in vehicle research, I am the last one to rail against drink-driving. However, what we really need is a more technologically informed legislature. Consider what is already possible given the political will:
Sat Navs automatically updated with mapping and road work/diversions, plus traffic conditions on a minute by minute basis. Part of this updating would be speed limits for wherever the vehicle is, including temporary ones determined by road accidents etc. and even for car parks. Instantaneous traffic light status could be transmitted to road vehicles and even location of all vehicles in the vicinity so that overtaking etc. can be negotiated safely. From this, all that is needed is vehicles to have a fly-by-wire throttle (common in many vehicles in production today). Some vehicles are even fitted with automatic braking. With electric cars it is even possible to have the throttle as an on/off switch.
Link all that information into a car's control electronics and it would be very difficult to crash a motor car by accident. For instance, it would be impossible to jump traffic lights, emerge from a junction until it was safe to do so; any deviation from the traffic lane when it would be unsafe would be conveyed to the driver, such as by vibrating the steering wheel up and down, thus waking any driver who has dozed off. (This mechanism could also be used as an enhancement to following sat nav directions.)
The above is only an indication of what is possible. If vehicles are made safer, it would be possible to consider relaxing the drink driving laws for drivers of vehicles so equipped. Part of life's enjoyment is having a drink with friends. Unfortunately, the combination of draconian drink-driving laws in some countries and cheap alcohol in supermarkets has led to drinking in the home and that is causing a significant rise in drink problems with, as with drink driving, associated other people being harmed. Instead of it being other road users and pedestrians, it is the spouses and children that end up in hospital or the morgue.
I forgot one other essential piece of equipment: gaffer tape to put over the mouths of motoring correspondents, who almost universally have yet to catch up with the fact that the world is changing and leaving them behind. Peak oil, climate change and an aging population are the factors that are going to dictate motor vehicle development, along with some prodding from those politicians brave enough to reflect the needs of the whole population instead of those of the over-grown children among us. It will not be based on how quickly any given vehicle can go, or reach a given speed, and thus consume expensive fuel in the most uneconomic and polluting manner.
Stewart Mitchell
I expect drivers will be nearly extinct in 10 years. Robots will take over.
Gene Jordan
They may claim the purpose behind this is "public safety", but the real reason is greed. Lucrative contracts to supply all of the Breathalyzer's needed for every driver or every car will be sold by the politicians to the highest bidder. Just like the red light cameras and the desire to monitor speeders by GPS in the car or by satellites in space, the name of the game here is revenue. "lots of spot checks and failure to provide a working breathalyzer when requested by a traffic policeman will attract a fine of EUR11.00 (US$14)." The police officers unions will be happy because it will take more officers to man those spot checks. The police department, city, and/or municipality will be happy to receive the funds generated from these tickets. It won't result in less people driving drunk though. People who are breaking the law do not plan on getting caught. Had this article followed the money trail on this topic, it might have come off as less biased. It's almost as if the writer is trying to sell the idea to the general public instead of reporting on the subject.
John Russell
I think car makers should sell cars that can't kill us. Crash proof radar is on some cars and should be on all cars. That would solve the alcohol problem.
Ed
most of Europe's laws are based off of the Napoleonic code where laws are created and if you violate them, it's up to the accused to prove their innocence...whereas here in the USA, we have the law of precedence which says that laws have not been written yet until a societal quorum dictates a modification of behavior is required to prevent injury to life, limb or property. Then you are assumed innocent until proven guilty. Putting a breathalyzer in a to a vehicle of an innocent person violates due process and makes the presumption of guilt without substantiation. So, no....this won't fly in the USA...it is a violation of our constitutional rights. This has been implemented though on vehicles of habitual offenders, but in those instances, due process has been met.
Mel Tisdale
I have just noticed a rather fundamental mistake in my first sentence. It should have read: "... I am the last one to rail against drink-driving legislation."