Why don't we have random driver breathalyser tests in the UK?

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Abject_Sir_5728@reddit

You can be pulled over without any specified reason under the road traffic act.

You cannot legally be pulled over and then breathalysed randomly as the police require a reasonable suspicion than you are under the influence of drugs or drink.

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Winston_Carbuncle@reddit

What about the campaigns, usually around Christmas, where police spend a morning pulling over drivers to breathalyse them? I always assumed it was done at random?

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It'll either be done voluntarily (rare) or we have the power to breathslise anyone who has committed a Moving Traffic Offence, which is anything from speeding, lack of MOT, brake lights not working...

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Winston_Carbuncle@reddit

So, in theory, if pulled in the scenario I described above, you could refuse? Providing they don't "notice" something off with your driving, of course.

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CamdenSpecial@reddit

The 3 times we can require a specimen of breath are Suspicion of drink driving, being involved in an RTC, and committing a moving traffic offence. If you're none of the three then you are allowed to refuse!

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Kind-County9767@reddit

What's the actual bar for suspicion though? "It's Christmas and they're driving" enough? "Middle age male at night" enough? "I just don't like them"?

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Sburns85@reddit

What about random checkpoints

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Nice-Grapefruit-2588@reddit

It's the same for those. You can be pulled over randomly, but can only be *required* to provide a specimen of breath in the three described situations. If none of those three fit, you can be asked if you would like to provide a specimen of breath but it must be made clear to you that it is voluntary.

The power to request a specimen of breath when the driver commits a moving traffic offence is the most likely power to be used on a random checkpoint as there are lots of people committing minor offences. If one of the bulbs in your number plate light is out or your water closet is leaking urine onto the road, you're ripe for a breathalysing.

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notouttolunch@reddit

Involved with a real time clock?

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Dannyt98-dt@reddit

Road traffic collision.

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Winston_Carbuncle@reddit

Thanks for clarification! Sorry for implying you might "notice" something else to justify it haha

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ChEmIcAl_KeEn@reddit

Even if you stink of booze

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Vertigo_uk123@reddit

Yes however that could give them reasonable suspicion in which case they can request a specimen or do you for refusing a specimen I believe. Nothing stopping them saying well I can smell alcohol on your breath / in the car either. Same as they do with weed to justify a search.

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Ochib@reddit

Failure to comply with a request to carry out a breath test is an offence and the penalty is the same as if you had been convicted of being over the limit.

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manwithnoplan3@reddit

This is correct. Maybe varies amongst UK but correct in NI

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for_shaaame@reddit

That’s not quite correct. If the officer has reason to suspect alcohol/a moving traffic offence/an accident, then he can require you to provide a sample at the roadside under section 6 of the Road Traffic Act 1988. Refusal to provide a sample at the roadside, in response to a legal requirement to do so, is an offence - but it only carries 4 points.

If the officer has administered the test because he suspects alcohol, and you refuse, then you will be arrested on suspicion of failing to provide at the roadside and taken to a police station, where you can be required to provide a sample of breath/blood/urine there under section 7 of the Act. It is this refusal which carries the same penalty as drink-driving (i.e. a mandatory 1-year ban).

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RealLongwayround@reddit

Failure to comply with a lawful request to provide is an offence.

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EntirelyRandom1590@reddit

Exactly. And the police know people think this. No one is going to risk refusing a test, voluntary or otherwise, for this reason.

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Fine-Veterinarian804@reddit

where did you get this idea from?

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Jacktheforkie@reddit

Best just to do it because it’s less suspicious

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Appropriate_Mud1629@reddit

Yep I drive for a living..

The police do sometimes put up random stops where every 3rd, 6th or whatever truck/car is waved off and vehicle checked for roadworthyness with drug swab and breathalyser thrown in

Tbf I cannot remember whether I was asked if I would consent, or whether I was just told... this is what's going to happen.

Happened to me twice in about 25 years of commercial driving but both times in the last seven years or so..

Both times in the run up to Christmas

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Meand3xxx@reddit

I was asked to pull over at one of these, it was just outside the village i live in around 5.30am. I was on my way to work, 7 mths pregnant. When the Police officer came to my window he laughed and explained it was random 😂 I had to tell him, I may struggle to do the breathe test, he was very understanding. Luckily just as I was about to stop he said stop as it reached the point it needed to go to.

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Competitive_Pen7192@reddit

I got roadside tested around 22 years ago randomly at Xmas. Just got pulled over by a bunch of Police on a static road block.

They invited me to keep the test straw. Not sure if that's the done thing anymore...

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Generallyapathetic92@reddit

I don’t think they randomly breathalyse people.

I’ve been stopped before as part of those campaigns before and they just asked me when I last had a drink (I think it was like 3 days ago) and then let me go. I assume if they’d smelt alcohol on my breath or if I’d been slurring my words they’d have had reasonable suspicion to breathalyse me.

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Winston_Carbuncle@reddit

Ah fair enough. Its never happened to me so sounds like I was making quite a few assumptions!

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Stormgeddon@reddit

They can stop anyone for any or no reason. They then ask where you’re coming from, and as soon as you say a Christmas celebration that will more or less be a justification to breathalyse. There’s a number of subjective reasons they can use to cement the probable cause.

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limpingdba@reddit

"Smelling alcohol" or "smelling cannabis" is reasonable suspicion enough. You also cannot really disprove an officer's sense of smell, so it's a pretty useful loophole.

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dpwtr@reddit

You are talking out of your arse man, they do this all the time. What is going on in this thread.

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CoconutBandita@reddit

That just requires a law change.

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j0nnnnn@reddit

So we should change the law so police can stop anyone they like for absolutely no reason and make them submit to a whole bunch of tests just because ? And the employ more police just to do this rather than something useful and worthwhile

How about we stick with them being able to pull over people that are driving suspiciously for testing instead.

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CoconutBandita@reddit

If drink or drug driving is a sufficiently large problem that random testing would reduce it, then I'd have no issue with it.

It's not stopping anyone for no reason, it's stopping drivers to randomly check they're fit to drive.

It could be self funding and save lives.

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CamdenSpecial@reddit

The police can already pull over anyone we want to on the road (S.163 RTA), usually to check they're allowed to drive (S.164 RTA) and have appropriate insurance (S.165 RTA).

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j0nnnnn@reddit

I didn't say they couldn't..?

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CamdenSpecial@reddit

I mean you implied they couldn't with your first line 😂

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RealLongwayround@reddit

No, you inferred it.

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j0nnnnn@reddit

Normally people work in full sentences to get the full context, officer

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CamdenSpecial@reddit

Normally problem write their sentences correctly, and don't split it up to make the meaning ambiguous, civilian.

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j0nnnnn@reddit

I'm sure you'd be putting me in the cells for my 'implications' if we were out in the real world. I'm guessing there's no reading comprehension test to join the police?

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Evening-Tour@reddit

Yes, but they can't randomly breathealise or drug swab you, as they require reasonable suspicion to do so.

You are very confidently and intelligently making an irrelevant point.

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Abject_Sir_5728@reddit

Would be quite a big law change

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CoconutBandita@reddit

I'm just pointing out that the fact of the law not allowing it is simply a procedural element rather than the ultimate reason for it not happening.

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3rdLion@reddit

“Reasonable suspicion” just requires the officer to say “I smell alcohol” though, so essentially they can.

It happened to me, when the officer said my car “stinks of cannabis” when it didn’t. Just an excuse to search the car.

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temporarilytransient@reddit

Absolutely, in reality, if they want to breathalyse you or search you, they'll be able to do so. Smell is difficult to quantify, and there's a large element of subjectivity to it.

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Sgt_major_dodgy@reddit

You cannot legally be pulled over and then breathalysed randomly as the police require a reasonable suspicion than you are under the influence of drugs or drink.

My BIL got pulled over by the police and was drug tested and failed (he hadn't smoked that day but the day before)

Anyway they said he looked "nervous" as the reason for pulling him over, so is that all it takes? e.g. you looked shifty so I'm swabbing you?

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EntirelyRandom1590@reddit

But let's be honest here, the police will simply use time and place to do this i.e. late at night, early on a weekend, within 5 miles of a pub. It's a nonsense that they're not held accountable for.

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Working_Bowl@reddit

So I read your comment and was confused as I have a memory (from about 10 years ago) of seeing random breathalyser tests being set up around Xmas time in my local area (England). I then googled and saw you were right, but what they can do is ask you in a certain way (so basically ask ‘Is it alright if I breathalyse you’. I guess if you say no, then it might give them suspicion to actually make you.

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Drath101@reddit

You can consent, they can also quite easily find enough reason. Somebody's been drinking and they can smell it? Need to check you haven't been drinking today because they can smell alcohol. "Where are you coming from?" "Oh just been at my mum's Xmas lunch." There was probably booze there. Driving generally badly in some way combined with it being Christmas Day? That's probably enough

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ExcitementNo6837@reddit

Yeah that's not the case tho, I've seen them doing it and have had it done to myself before, around the Christmas period..

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Haunting-Button-4281@reddit

Yes you can if they have stopped you for any other offence or if they are carrying out vehicle checks

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Mglfll@reddit

Hang on, what?! Stockton police have done this for years. 40 now but in my younger days me and loads of my mates got random stops and breathalyser tested! Always got to keep the mouth piece as a “trophy”. Wasn’t even like we were speeding or all over, just stopped, ID’d then tested

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justsomerabbit@reddit

This is the correct answer.

Breath tests can only be required if there is suspicion the driver has alcohol/drugs in their system (s6 (2) RTA)

OR the person was a driver who had alcohol/drugs in their system at the time and are still under the influence (s6 (3) RTA)

OR the driver has committed a moving traffic offence (s6 (4) RTA)

OR were involved in an accident (s6 (5) RTA)

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Dazz316@reddit

I think OP understands that, be they're asking why we don't do that

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Peppy_Tomato@reddit

Because we don't want to normalize interrupting normal people going about their lives when there's no good reason to suspect them of a crime.

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FitSolution2882@reddit

Why not outside of festivals though? They would routinely do it outside of pubs (particularly on a Sunday morning when people went back to get their cars).

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Albert_Herring@reddit

Because they're normally a traffic management nightmare in confined spaces where any additional friction is likely to cause gridlock?

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FitSolution2882@reddit

I've seen plenty of places where that isn't an issue and surely catching those under the influence is better than a traffic jam....

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iwantmuscle@reddit

This is how you spell normalise in the UK

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Albert_Herring@reddit

It's one of the ways. Both are correct, the OED prefers the form with Z.

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iwantmuscle@reddit

I think I'll stick with the universally common normalise

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HatOfFlavour@reddit

I've seen some British copaganda show where they were stopping people driving but it was the wee hours so like 1 to 3am. The big bust was they caught one builder with an outstanding warrant who was getting a lift to a job. Gods knows how many innocent drivers were inconvenienced.

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yepyep5678@reddit

You'd be surprised at how many people are caught at 7am on Sunday and Monday morning

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robjamez72@reddit

I was randomly breathalysed one Sunday morning while Jon my way to work in a van. The copper said it’s very common to catch someone the morning after.

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HatOfFlavour@reddit

Caught actually in the action of doing a crime? or because of lets-bother-everyone-trawling-for-something traffic stops?

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marquoth_@reddit

I've seen it outside the pub I used to work at after last orders. I suppose they imagined they were going to be catching patrons but they only ever stopped staff. Didn't take them long to give up doing it.

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RoyofBungay@reddit

Yes, because in the Uk the right to dislike being told what to do supersedes any law in the land. See Covid…

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GrabbedByTheGhost@reddit

There is good reason though. A fuck tonne of people still drink and drive.

If everyone stops doing it, then I would say there's no good reason to suspect.

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rectal_warrior@reddit

It's really not invasive in Australia, it's usually Saturday/Sunday/ public holiday morning when the roads are quiet, you go through some cones, stop, count to 10 into a machine and keep driving. Delays you maybe seconds, and absolutely makes people think twice about driving while drunk. They can make you pay to have a breathalyser installed in your car, it won't start the engine without a 0 reading. Both systems reduce drink driving massively, it's a positive thing for society that only negatively affects those who break the rules in ways which are dangerous to others, other than having to stop for 30 seconds a few times a year.

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boycott_all_rats@reddit

It's a net good though.

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sheepandlambs@reddit

You'd resent having your time wasted when you're in a rush to get somewhere.

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marquoth_@reddit

Is it? I'd seriously challenge you to prove that.

How often do they actually catch somebody over the limit vs how much time wasted. How much ill will is generated among people who were needlessly stopped.

Bear in mind opportunity cost - all police resources spent on this are by definition not being spent on something else which could easily have done far more good.

The only "spot checks" I've ever witnessed were late at night outside the pub I used to work at. They never once caught a drunk punter (which was presumably the expectation) but several times they stopped sober staff members who'd just finished a shift.

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boycott_all_rats@reddit

Over 50 thousand people caught drink driving each year.

And the only ill will comes from alcoholic drivers.

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uncited@reddit

Of course, the “if you’ve got nothing to hide” crowds out

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boycott_all_rats@reddit

They are grabbing a breath not like it's a search of your house

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Dramatic-Rub-3135@reddit

I'm sure random searches of peoples houses would also save lives and prevent serious crimes, so why not?

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Ctrl_daltdelete@reddit

Catching drink drivers is a good thing. The flip side is public perception of the police. If you're on your way to work, running late but obeying the law and then get pulled over for a random breath test, your perception of the police is likely to be along the lines of "busy body jobsworths who don't catch proper crooks". It's extra police resources invested in an activity that diminishes trust and makes them look bad. We might catch a few more drink drivers but on balance it's probably best not to have random tests for the greater good.

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boycott_all_rats@reddit

The greater good is less road deaths each year. 260 people per year in the UK.

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brizzle9293@reddit

This is actually loads less than I would of thought

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Ok-Switch242@reddit

It’s interesting because constables can stop a vehicle and ask for driver details with no grounds needed.

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concretepigeon@reddit

Just because the can doesn’t mean they do.

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Illustrated-Society@reddit

The right answer.

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BasisOk4268@reddit

Bingo

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BowiesFixedPupil@reddit

Apart from at Christmas time!

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Voodoopulse@reddit

Because I'd be very pissed off if I was on my way home from work and got pulled over to test something when I'm a completely innocent person

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Background_Work1254@reddit

Don’t worry, random stops doesn’t happen like that. This is normal practice in my country and “raids” as we call them happens during odd hours like late Friday (or weekend/BH) evening, in the morning after said days and etc.

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Ziphoblat@reddit

Fantastic for everybody not working 9-5 then.

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Background_Work1254@reddit

Oh yes it is! 5min spent to be checked is much better then to spend rest of your life in a wheelchair or dead after drunk driver drives into you. This drastically reduced drink drivers and fatal accidents all together. Your time is absolutely irrelevant here

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SoggyWotsits@reddit

How about if a random test like that identified a drink driver, who could have killed your family member?

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SlightlyWarmAnt@reddit

Do you also think the government should be able to access everyone's phones remotely and enter everyone's house with no reason because they will inevitably find evidence of crimes?

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SoggyWotsits@reddit

Driving is a privilege, not a right. You’re legally allowed to drink at home, not behind the wheel of a car. The two things aren’t comparable.

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acky1@reddit

Just stop the guilty people and leave the innocent people alone.

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Neither_Process_7847@reddit

Let's make crime illegal!

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jamesdownwell@reddit

Just normal men.

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dunloptortexpurple@reddit

Just innocent men.

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nanomeister@reddit

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newnortherner21@reddit

The road lobby have an influence on policy in the UK. They'd complain about alleged human rights abuses.

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VolcanicBear@reddit

Good to see some sense in here. Everyone else moaning about how much it'd annoy them to be pulled over on their way home from work.

It'd frustrate me a little too, but if it stops drinking driving and saves lives it wouldn't bother me, if we had the man power.

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Neither_Process_7847@reddit

Except that we do have random spot checks...

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VolcanicBear@reddit

I know we do a lot over Christmas and holidays etc, but am not that personally clued up on this kind of thing.

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Neither_Process_7847@reddit

They need reasonable suspicion to teet, but can pull someone over for any reason. So around festive times, near festivals, near loud parties....of course they can always ask someone to be breathalysed, and if that person refuses then even "swayed slightly' or 'could smell alcohol somewhere' qualify as reasonable. But they concentrate at times and locations when there's most reason for concern that people might be drink or drug driving.

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Live-Motor-4000@reddit

I was in Western Australia back in the late-80s/early-90s and back the. They would randomly shut a major road and breathalyze every driver and had chase cars ready for anyone who popped a u-ey. Also, every radio DJ used to sign off with the line “if you drink & drive, you’re a bloody idiot”.

Mind you, you could still get a slab of beer at a drive through bottle shop

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Aggravating-Ant-6767@reddit

Not exactly answering your question, maybe I’m just naive but I don’t feel like we have a massive problem here with people getting drunk and then driving home, but more so with people drinking, going home, and then driving the next day not even thinking they’re still over the limit

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lightpeachfuzz@reddit

Yeah with the very suburban layout of Australia's cities, people tend to live much further away from the nearest pub or whatever social event they're going to and so that means getting a taxi is a lot more expensive and public transport options are completely impractical for a lot of people, hence they try to get away with drink driving.

In the UK if you're just going to the pub it's usually walking distance, and with so much of the country living in London there's much better public transport options available for most people.

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jumpinjezz@reddit

The testing also catches some people still over the next morning, or tradies who knocked off at 2 or three and had a few bevvies. I don't think I've been through one recently that was late at night.

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MattGeddon@reddit

They had a roadblock set up to breathalyse every driver leaving the city when I was in NZ last year and it was like 8am on a Saturday/Sunday morning so they were definitely catching people doing exactly that.

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DeeplyProfound_@reddit

you obviously dont work in the trades then

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AE_Phoenix@reddit

It's a massive problem in rural areas, almost nonexistent in urban. There aren't any taxis in small villages and it's impossible to get home without a car, so accidentally going over the limit is very easy.

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thefluvirus9@reddit

Do we need to have it? I find most brits follow rules (to a large extent anyway) micro policing I honestly feel is not necessary

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Dunny2k@reddit

If you think Brits follow rules then have a quick drive down any motorway and you’ll soon change your mind

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spaceshipcommander@reddit

Same reason we don't randomly check people's pockets for stolen goods.

Furthermore, drink driving is statistically a none issue. Our roads are the safest in the world. If you wanted to wanted to enforce a policy that saved lives, you'd be better off enforcing mandatory rest breaks on car drivers the same as lorry drivers do.

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Dunny2k@reddit

Drug driving on the other hand…

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JohnCasey3306@reddit

The police have no business stopping anyone that they don't have reason to suspect might have committed an offence.

Yes, fuck drink drivers ... but also fuck excessive and unnecessary use of intrusive power by the state, infringing needlessly on law-abiding people going about their day -- that's a slippery slope we don't want to go down.

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FatBloke4@reddit

They sometimes do stops in the run up to Christmas, when people are doing work parties.

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darS234@reddit

They do over here in NI. A few times a year they’ll block the high street late at night to catch people driving home from the pubs.

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Particular_Meeting57@reddit

I’d rather the limit was raised.

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Accomplished_Fan_487@reddit

Certainly in Europe, this is largely a safety exercise for the purpose of alongside generating a lot of tax revenue. Yes, you heard that right - In Holland that'll cost you £300 or so.

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ginger_alex_97@reddit

Urmm we do do we not? Where I live there is often police just stopping cars doing breathalyser tests, more often around Christmas for training but they have caught people in the past.

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TheWeirdDude-247@reddit

Im a innocent law abiding citizen.....i can tell we would never get along....

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Maleficent-Win-6520@reddit

We do. They run campaigns particularly at times like Xmas.

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charliegibbatron@reddit

I have had one of these about 18/19 years ago. On my way to college in the morning there was a police cordon across the road and every car going into Cambridge was checked. It was incredibly time consuming and made me late

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paulbamf@reddit

The police are too busy to handle real crime let's not give them anything else.

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_a_m_s_m@reddit

Probably some combination of motonormativity & overconfidence.

There’s always backlash for safety policies, requiring seatbelts for cars was unpopular, as was the original drink driving laws, more recently, lowering speed limits, LTN’s etc.

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Impossible_Delay1023@reddit

So many people in my village drink drive, we are talking some might be 3 or 4 pint some 7 or 8… Police have been told and some don’t do anything about it

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JeffSergeant@reddit

They do it around Christmas and New Year in some places. Ostensibly as a 'safety check', and if they find reason to suspect you've been drinking they'll breathalyse. Last time I was stopped at one, the policemen stuck his nose in my car took a big sniff and sent me on my way.

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Bert1701@reddit

We do, when I was younger I got pulled over and breathalysed pretty frequently driving my friends home from the pub especially during holiday seasons. Maybe you're not old enough to remember when the police had a budget?

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kingfosters@reddit

We used to have them, especially common in the run up to Christmas. I was stopped and asked to provide a sample after we finished work and funnily enoughon our way to the pub. I was a learner driver too, L Plates and workmate with the credentials next to me. Passed the test and was wished we'll and sent on my way. They were gone on our return trip but wouldn't have mattered as I hadn't drank and my workmate had a pint and a glass of coke so all good.

Got pulled into a roadside checkpoint while delivering home shopping too around 2018 or 2019. A lane was closed on the run up to a layby and cars were queuing to wait their turn. I was fortunate as an officer came along and let me straight out, said the guy instructing people to pull in shouldn't have stopped a work van.

The likely reason we don't see it often is lack of money. As before, the chances are you may see one before Xmas if the local police are doing a drink drive campaign.

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kiddj1@reddit

Shall we also do random checks inside homes for criminal activity?

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Pukit@reddit

I lived in aus for four years. Once a month on the way to work there’d be a queue of cops parked up drinking coffee pulling people over to breathalyse them. If I drove past at 6:59 they’d let me past, if I went past at 7:00 I’d get pulled over. I use to drink a lot but never blew positive the next morning. It was a pain in the arse. They also double points over public holidays, so if you get done for speeding at Christmas you’d get six points instead of three.

I always thought it all rather bullshit.

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elitejackal@reddit

We used to, every so often local police officers would carry out these tests especially during the weekend, the morning after effect has statistically contributed to more road fatalities.

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boycott_all_rats@reddit

You lot will argue I need to get insurance or go to jail get a tv licence or go to jail but how dare anyone try and get filthy drunks off the road...

Rbts in Australia catch roughly 50k per year. It causes the next 500k to think twice. And all it costs is maybe a random breathe once a year if I drive down certain roads on weekends or near events. It also does drug testing which catches more drivers that shouldn't be on the road.

But I should go to jail if I don't have car insurance lol.... Broken country.

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Diplomatic_Gunboats@reddit

Because it would be used disproportionately against black people. Like every other stop powers the police have been granted.

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WhiteDiamondK@reddit

I remember they used to do this around Christmas. I’m guessing reduced manpower stops this from being a thing.

I wouldn’t be against it… except our legal system could cope with all the people that would be prosecuted.

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bartread@reddit

We used to.

I got flagged down in 2001 by the side of a road at a vehicle checkpoint in Dorset. Police checked over my car and breathalysed me before sending me on my way.

More recently roadside checks were a regular feature around Christmas and New Year but, although they might still happen, I'm certainly much less aware of them.

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huskydaisy@reddit

I remember going through checkpoints all the time in the early 2000s and then they just disappeared.

Looks like my local police and VOSA do a couple per year still but only on one of the major routes through the county.

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PositivelyAcademical@reddit

Broadly speaking, because it’s unnecessary. In the UK the police can pull over any driver for any reason (or for no reason at all). Countries which tend to rely on checkpoints tend to prohibit random stops without cause.

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Sburns85@reddit

We do when I was on my motorcycle. I have been stopped by random check points a dozen times

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codechris@reddit

Oz has a huge drink driving problem so they need to. The UK not so much

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Illustrious-Milk6518@reddit

I’m certain that we probably have the same % of alcoholics here, but everything’s a bit closer together. In the countryside I could drive to about 4 local pubs from me in 15 mins. I see people drink driving all the time, and unless the police set up check points frequently around each village pub (countryside police have nowhere near the amount of resources as cities, and much much more workload and area to cover) then they’re not going to catch people in that moment.

And for the amount of people who get killed despite the casual drink driving, I’m not going to take someone’s keys away or report them because they’ve had a couple beers. I’d only do that if they were completely rat-arsed and were very clearly impaired to the point they were a danger. The only accidents I’ve seen as a result of drink driving which have resulted in deaths have been from people who are at least 2X the drink drive limit, by which point it’s incredibly obvious if someone is too drunk to drive.

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Dissidant@reddit

Its an issue here too, just under reported, massively

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DR_95_SuperBolDor@reddit

God forbid we actually have any rights... I don't want to live in a police state myself. I don't understand why people want to give up the freedoms we, or rather, previous generations, fought so hard to get. I'm not trying to condone drink driving here, it's actually one of my pet hates, personally. But every freedom and right is worth fighting to protect.

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surreyade@reddit

They’d clean up on a Friday afternoon around here. More white vans parked at pubs than anything.

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Grouchy_Conclusion45@reddit

Because whilst somewhat authoritarian, we're not quite as authoritarian as the Aussies are

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Skeff22@reddit

Would require police to be present on the roads forsake of protecting the roads. All I've ever seen is photo radar.

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Infamous_Tough_7320@reddit

We don’t have enough police officers as it is. How do you expect them to enforce this?

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dpwtr@reddit

They already do it and OP just hasn’t seen it.

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thenorthmerchant@reddit

They do this. Usually because of manpower its specific times of year/operations/campaigns e.g. Christmas

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TheUnSungHero7790@reddit

Because generally speaking, policing in this country was founded on the basis of you are assumed to be innocent until something shows you are not.

This has slowly been chipped away at for a long time but the principle does fortunately still remain.

The "if you have nothing to hide" crowd seem to want a police state.

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MrNogi@reddit

They can’t legally do blanket tests.

They can do testing where there is reasonable suspicion of intoxication (this can be broad), a moving traffic offence or a road traffic collision.

Sometimes at Christmas they run checkpoints in which they’ll stop each vehicle and then presumably any that have committed offences will get breathalysed, the rest I would imagine will be based off conversation/suspicion but not everyone that is pulled over would be breathalysed.

Personally I wouldn’t be against there being a power for Police Inspectors to authorise blanket testing in a set locality for a set time period, similar to how they can for stop searching or dispersal orders, but I appreciate that not everyone will share that view. I just personally think that if it prevents someone losing their life then it’s worth the inconvenience to other motorists (myself included).

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TheSmallestPlap@reddit

It's infringing on people's rights a little bit. Has a strong "guilty until proven innocent" feeling surrounding the whole idea.

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BlackJackKetchum@reddit

We already do - look at how many people are found not just under the limit, but stone cold.

No legislation has ever sanctioned this, but that’s what happens

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Spottyjamie@reddit

Guessing youve not been near the m6/m74 border on a monday?

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Droidy934@reddit

They (UKcops) can stop you when ever they want, no reason needed.

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Perennial_Phoenix@reddit

My area does but only around Christmas

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Conscious-Ball8373@reddit

They don't, at least technically. They need either reasonable suspicion that you have been drinking, suspicion of some other motoring offence, or for there to have been a collision.

What they do is stop you at random (which they are allowed to do) then look really hard for any legal justification for doing a breath test - any smell of alcohol, any slight defect in your vehicle etc etc.

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EntirelyRandom1590@reddit

No they don't, they use time and location as justification to test you i.e. it's late at night, early in the morning, it's Xmas so there's lots of parties on, and you were seen driving away from an area with a high concentration of licenced premises.

Every. Single. Time.

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Nandor1262@reddit

We do.

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_tym@reddit

I was pulled randomly on my way home for a test, they were pulling all builder vans as they’d had reports of builders having a skinful before driving home. Not sure if that counts but I’m also not a builder. I was just in a transit at the time.

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Sea-Still5427@reddit

We sometimes do, especially party season, and I suspect some groups are targeted speculatively.

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MJ-Franklin@reddit

Probably don't have the manpower. They're already not even turning up to crimes, I doubt they have any to waste on that! Ideally things like random tests/stop and search would be done because they actually worked.

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PennyBunPudding@reddit

It would be a massive authoritarian change to out law

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RealLongwayround@reddit

It does not need any change to the law. Any driver can legally be stopped at any time for any reason in the UK.

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oldie349@reddit

I was randomly breathalysed in UK once. It was just before Christmas around 5 or 6 pm.

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Feisty-Summer9331@reddit

Because that would be idiotic. Drink driving has serious side effects that would make you being pulled over anyway. Or reported by concerned people.

It would be a massive pain to pull over thousands of drivers to maybe catch 1 - they already have massive campaigns where they pull over drivers new years day or leaving ferries.

They know how to do their job and don't want to pull over you smugface if you were going about your business without swerving all over the place.

Let's just put every driver in prison pending their breath test results why don't we. You're basically promoting locking every random driver up because why not. Because after all roadside tests are not legally proof of anything if they don't submit to blood tests.

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Hancri84@reddit

Not enough police to do it.

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JoPOWz@reddit

We actually do - but usually only around specific times and in areas with risks. My Mum was a teacher for 20 years and they would collect the cardboard/plastic breathalyser tubes in their staff room each Christmas time. Basically you were out driving early in the AM those 2 weeks before Christmas, you had a good chance of being spot checked in that area, as they saw a lot of ‘drunk the night before, still way above the limit the next morning’ folks

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blue_rizla@reddit

The police could go round to everyone’s house at random times and search the home for drugs maybe or illegal immigrants? Maybe grab a quick fingerprint and DNA sample for the database whilst they’re there?

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AffectionateTrash146@reddit

Only time I ever remember this happening was about 2007 and it was either Xmas or boxing day and they were pulling people over for tests. Never seen or heard of it happening again since. It should be a common standard but probably not enough money or staff.

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Haggis-in-wonderland@reddit

It used to be more common to see police flagging cars into a layby for a vehicle check. If they had any suspicion they would breathalise you. Now we do not have the manpower.

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Sleepy0wl9969@reddit

Better still. Have a breathalyser attached to the immobiliser system that you have to blow in to start the car

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DameKumquat@reddit

We do occasionally, round Christmas.

Other times, we get the odd road block where they check everyone for MOT, insurance, driving licence etc. You can imagine how unamused I was when I was in labour and met this!

They only breathalysed anyone who failed one of the above and had an attitude problem. And warned us that they were doing the same road block at the same time every week - because even worse than someone driving without a licence is a stupid person driving without a licence and they kept nicking them. If they stopped catching people in uninsured cars, they'd stop doing the checks, but it was the best way for the legal drivers to be able to avoid the roadblock.

They kept going for about 6 months before they stopped getting 100 or more illegal drivers in an hour.

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ExcitementNo6837@reddit

We do, I've been stopped for a random breathalyser test before.. was around the Christmas period tho so probably only to do with that..

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TheGeordieGal@reddit

Pretty sure they do sometimes. I know the police have pulled random people outside Newcastle airport before to make sure people hadn’t got super drunk on planes and then decided to drive.

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CaoimhinOC@reddit

I'm in Northern Ireland and have seen them running campaigns around special times of year stopping drivers at checkpoints for alcohol and drugs. It's normally done around bank holidays and stuff like that. They did it this year or at least put out word on the news about this years campaign for Easter targeting mobile phone users, drink and drugs and speeding.

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Conscious-Ball8373@reddit

Once got stopped at 11AM on a Sunday morning an hour outside the nearest city in Australia. I asked the copper if they actually caught anyone at that sort of time and he said, "Ah, you'd be surprised, night after..." but actually I think he was a bit short that month and needed the overtime.

You have to decide whether you want to live in the sort of society where driving a car is enough provocation for the police to stop you and compel you to provide a sample. So far, the answer in the UK has been "no" and we have some of the safest roads in the world (wikipedia lists us as tenth-safest by road deaths per capita -- also fourth safest by road deaths per mile driven, with the caveat that they only have data for a couple of dozen countries).

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Adrian69702016@reddit

Random checks do take place. It's just that they're more high profile around Christmas.

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spaceshipcommander@reddit

Same reason we don't randomly check people's pockets for stolen goods.

Furthermore, drink driving is statistically a none issue. Our roads are the safest in the world. If you wanted to wanted to enforce a policy that saved lives, you'd be better off enforcing mandatory rest breaks on car drivers the same as lorry drivers do.

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Boxyuk@reddit

We do, its just not that common.

Happened generally around festivals, Xmas time ect.

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AE_Phoenix@reddit

Because the panopticon is not a good model for society

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Alert_Mine7067@reddit

This happens in Northern Ireland, in December the PSNI have a stopping drink driving operation, it seems to be relatively successful and they make plenty of arrests as a result. I thought all UK police services done something similar.

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Randystarbuxx@reddit

You get it in Scotland, usually around the festive period.

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Illustrious-Eye1673@reddit

I remember here in Bristol they had a festive random check on a major road here that had a lot of bars and restaurants on it. It was well known, so people could avoid driving around that location, but it really was to send a message.

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geekroick@reddit

We do. Depends on the police force, though, and tends to be around Christmastime because that's the peak time to catch offenders (apparently).

EG

https://www.edp24.co.uk/news/24765554.police-breathalyse-every-driver-stopped-norfolk/

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SceneDifferent1041@reddit

We'd need police officers first.

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MaverickMcdoodle@reddit

I bet the guy was fined.

In australia they have stupid high fines for road offences and cops are super sneaky setting up speed traps. In england we have to make them visible.

Im sure half there economy is based on motoring fines.

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