A new remote alcohol testing system for drivers found drunk-driving in America is on its way to Europe and could be tested in Britain as early as next year.
SCRAM - or Secure Continuous Remote Alcohol Monitor - developed by Alcohol Monitoring Systems in Denver, Colorado, is the first remote alcohol testing system designed to test subjects 24 hours a day without any active participation by the subject.
Developed as one element in a comprehensive programme of sanctions for drink drivers in the US, the system combines elements of current remote electronic monitoring programs with new detection technology. The three-part system, which includes a bracelet and a Modem, requires the subject to place the Modem in their home.
The Bracelet, weighing only eight ounces, is strapped to the ankle and tests ethanol that migrates through the skin in order to determine a subject's Blood Alcohol Content (BAC).
Once each day, at a time pre-determined by the monitoring agency, the subject is required to be within range of the Modem.
People may try to fool it by covering their skin, but the system can detect this by measuring their temperature and taking a reading with the IR sensor. "A major advantage of the system is that subjects are unaware when testing takes place," says Glenn Tubb, commercial vice-president with AMS.
The SCRAMNET is web-based and testing requires no supervision. Authorities can customise, per offender, how they want to receive notification of alerts or tampers, Tubb adds.
According to AMS, several companies in Britain expressed considerable interest in the bracelet following successful testing of it in three states in America over the course of last summer.
Meanwhile road trials for another in-car drink-drive detector began last week in Britain. The detector works by measuring the degree of co-ordination between hand and eye and monitoring steering wheel movements and then comparing the two. It has been developed by scientists at Manchester Metropolitan University and the University of Bristol.
Dr Dilwyn Marple-Horvat, who is conducting the trials, said: "If the road tests over the next six months are successful, the car of the future will know if your driving is impaired through tiredness, drink or drugs, and be able to warn you before you put your life, and the lives of other road users, at risk."
Dr Marple-Horvat said: "Usually, the time delay between looking at the new direction of travel and then moving the hand on the steering wheel is about half to three quarters of a second.
"Under the influence of drink, the interval between eye and steering wheel movement gets shorter, because the eyes move later." The device "gets to know" a driver, and can compare drunk or tired driving with the usual performance, a spokesman said.
People who are twice over the legal limit are 50 times more likely to be involved in a fatal accident. It's estimated that 1,500 will be arrested for drink driving over the six-week Christmas campaign here this year. Figures show that the number of motorists breath-tested dropped in the first two weeks of the clampdown from 849 last year to 519. However, the number of arrests fell by only one to 548.