Right, this whole alcolock thing. In theory, a very good idea. In practice, I get the feeling that it will suck almighty balls, and will be a huge annoyance to the world in general and motorists in particular.

First off: how long until someone like Blunkett (a man I have a lot of love for) decides that not just those who have been convicted of drink driving should have one. How about those most likley to drink drive (maybe, off the top of my head, young men between 18-25, for instance)? Sure it will save lives, and it will have a negligable effect on their day to day lives, and it’s all FOR THE CHILDREN, DAMMIT! WHAT WORTH DO YOUR CIVIL LIBERTIES HAVE WHEN COMPARED TO THE THEORETICAL CHILDREN PULLED RIGHT FROM THE CONTROL-FREAK’S ARSE? HUH? YOU THINK THAT YOUR DRIVING FREEDOMS ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN A SINGLE CHILD’S LIFE…. blah, blah, blah, until there is no use fighting it anymore.

Secondly: (only applies to those who have been convicted, here, not to any preemptive installation policy, which I covered in point one) Sure, I can see the point in checking when you start up. I can see the point in voice recognition to ensure that it’s the driver who’s checking their breath*. What I can’t see is why should there be many random checks during the journey. At a time when the government is busy removing all distractions from drivers (like phones) and replacing them with other distractions (like the stupid new traffic calming measures mentioned in the ST), what is their policy on whining digital devices that instruct the driver to pull over immediatly?

There are a large amount of other things about this policy that I could get angry about (lower the alcohol limit to that provided by sniffing a wine gum, for instance), but I’m not going to at the minute. Because I can’t just piss off to the range when I get annoyed.

*- although, how that will allow such things as someone who doesn’t own the car driving it, I’m not sure. So from now on, all mechanics will need to push cars round the garage.