German engineering plans to make it hard for serious and serial drink driver offenders to blow-off the law.
Dräger is one of three companies the state government has contracted to roll out alcohol interlock systems later this year.
The $430,000 program announced last week will apply to repeat drink drivers and drivers convicted of driving with a blood alcohol level of 0.15 or higher.
Offenders must install their car with the interlock for a minimum of 15 months and at a cost of $3000 if they want their licence back after disqualification.
How it works:
Fitted to a car's ignition the driver must blow into the interlock device.
- The car will not start if the driver's alcohol level is above the preset minimum.
- Any attempt to tamper with the device is recorded automatically and the driver must repeat the test at random intervals throughout the journey to ensure that he or she is still sober.
- If they fail to carry out the requested sample breath test or the test is positive for breath alcohol, an alarm will sound or the vehicles horn and hazard lights will be activated until the vehicle is turned off or the driver carries out a successful retest.
- Internal data storage records events such as dates, times, submission of or refusal to submit a breath sample, the measured alcohol concentration, the number of engine starts and stops, and any electrical bypassing or other attempts to tamper with the device.