Motorists back court-ordered alcolocks for drink-drivers
Fri, 23 May 2025
More than half of motorists back the idea of courts forcing those convicted of drink-driving to have mandatory alcolocks fitted to their car, a survey has found.
53% think the government should use an upcoming road safety strategy to allow courts to insist on alcolocks to help prevent them reoffending.
Alcolocks, or alcohol interlocks, prevent a vehicle from being started if any alcohol is detected in an offender’s breath.
However, despite this, 23% reckoned alcolocks wouldn’t reduce drink-driving, while a similar proportion were unsure.
The RAC, which carried out the survey, says there are several ways alcolocks can be used. Courts could either mandate them for reoffenders, or for anyone convicted of drink-driving (there were more than 47,000 in 2023 alone). The cost of fitting one is generally paid by the offender.
They are already used in many parts of the United States, along with Finland, Belgium, New Zealand, Australia and Canada. Usually, they are fitted for a set period, most often a year.
In New Zealand, following the removal of an alcolock, offenders are issued with a zero-alcohol driving licence for three years.
If they are then found with any alcohol in their system whatsoever, they can be charged with drink-driving and disqualified again.
Many systems counter concerns about offenders getting sober people to ‘cheat’ them by demanding further random tests while driving.
RAC head of policy Simon Williams says it is very apparent that many of the drink-drivers caught by the police are reoffenders, which implies something different needs to be done to change this dangerous behaviour.
"Their use may be seen as a soft option by some, but experience from other countries suggests the opposite. Simply banning habitual drink-drivers doesn’t seem to be the answer, even though they face a prison sentence, as all too often they just get behind the wheel again anyway," he adds.
According to a Freedom of Information request to the DVLA, more than 27,000 drivers were convicted of multiple drink-drive offences in the 11 years leading up to July 2024.
Williams said that court orders that mandate alcohol interlocks could be worth exploring in a trial.
"We hope the government considers this in the forthcoming road safety strategy being produced by the Department for Transport."
