Random Testing

POLICE DEMAND RANDOM BREATH TESTS!

What would be your reaction to a headline like this? Is random testing a good idea?

Consider the following information before You make a judgement.

At present the law allows police to breathalyse a driver of a moving car only if he is committing another offence.

Random breath tests would mean the police would be allowed to take a random selection of drivers and ask each one to take the breathalyser test.

How would the police take a random selection of drivers?

If random breath tests were introduced, anv motorist might be stopped and tested. More gullty motorists would be caught.

Compare your reasons with a friend.

Your teacher will help you find out reasons given by the rest of the class. Did anyone consider whether or not the breathalyser was reliable?

It should show positive by turning green if the motorist has over 80 mg of alcohol in every 100 ml of blood. But it is not perfect, even if the driver and the policeman use it correctly.

What could happen?

Anyone who reacts positively has to go to the police station and take a second reliable test, which decides whether a person is drunk or not. But this costs time and money and is very worrying for the driver, particularly if he is sober.

The advantages of using the breathalyser are that it is a quick and fairly cheap way of testing drivers, and it can be administered 'on the spot'. It is no use having such a test, however, unless it is reasonably reliable, and does not lead to too many mistakes being made.

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