Sister Iroz
January 1st, 2009, 05:34 PM
A company that helps drink-drivers to evade detection by texting them with locations of police breathalyser checkpoints has been accused of putting lives at risk on the roads.
The service uses tip-offs from drivers, information from police websites and other undisclosed sources to plot where testing is being carried out. Subscribers are sent details of all roads in their counties where they stand a higher risk of being stopped.
Brake, a road safety charity, urged police to investigate whether Etri Mobile Services was guilty of perverting the course of justice by helping drivers to dodge checkpoints.
The Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) is organising its biggest operation against drink-driving this Christmas and new year, with a record number of checkpoints established. Any driver can be stopped, breaking the normal police practice that a motorist must first be seen to be driving badly.
Etri sends its highest volume of text messages on Friday and Saturday nights. Almost two thirds of drink-drive crashes happen on Friday, Saturday and Sunday and half of those between 9pm and 3am.
There were 460 deaths and 1,800 serious injuries in drink-drive crashes in 2007. The death toll was 18 per cent lower than in the previous year but the total number of crashes involving a driver over the limit rose for the first time in five years.
Vincent Parisis, chief executive of Etri, admitted that some drivers were using the service to drink and drive, knowing that they could choose a route home with a lower risk of being caught. But he claimed that the company was acting responsibly by including, in each text message, the number of a local taxi company and advice against drinking and driving.
“Of course, we will always have the risk that the service will be misused by people looking for an alternative route. On the other hand those people are already a danger,” he said.
The service – which costs drivers 75p per text message received – is already used by 150,000 drivers in France and Belgium and began operating in Britain last month. Drivers who send in information about police checkpoints are rewarded with three weeks’ free subscription.
Mary Williams, Brake’s chief executive, said: “Helping drink drivers evade detection is, in our view, perverting the course of justice and we are writing to Acpo. This so-called service will raise the risk of being killed by a drunken driver who has used the intelligence to carry on drinking.”
Ms Williams said that Etri was one of a growing number of companies offering services that make it harder for police to catch dangerous drivers. “Whether it’s tipping drivers off about speed cameras or alerting them to checkpoints, these devices are making our roads more dangerous,” she said. “They encourage drivers to see dodging the police as a game, but they result in more road deaths.”
Edmund King, president of the AA, said: “The responsible motorist has nothing to fear from police alcohol checks and therefore has no need of this service. Drivers shouldn’t play Russian roulette with their own lives and those of others. Fear of being breathalysed is an important deterrent and anything that makes people more complacent should be condemned.”
An AA Populus poll of 11,388 drivers found that 80 per cent admitted that they might have driven over the alcohol limit the morning after a night’s drinking.
Chief Inspector Donald McMillan, head of road policing for Central Scotland Police, said: “We have been concentrating on the ‘morning after’ issue very heavily during this year’s drink-drive campaign.”
Police are using new digital roadside breathalysers for the first time. These allow police to carry out readings accurate enough to be used in court without needing to test the driver again at a station.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article5425713.ece
The service uses tip-offs from drivers, information from police websites and other undisclosed sources to plot where testing is being carried out. Subscribers are sent details of all roads in their counties where they stand a higher risk of being stopped.
Brake, a road safety charity, urged police to investigate whether Etri Mobile Services was guilty of perverting the course of justice by helping drivers to dodge checkpoints.
The Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) is organising its biggest operation against drink-driving this Christmas and new year, with a record number of checkpoints established. Any driver can be stopped, breaking the normal police practice that a motorist must first be seen to be driving badly.
Etri sends its highest volume of text messages on Friday and Saturday nights. Almost two thirds of drink-drive crashes happen on Friday, Saturday and Sunday and half of those between 9pm and 3am.
There were 460 deaths and 1,800 serious injuries in drink-drive crashes in 2007. The death toll was 18 per cent lower than in the previous year but the total number of crashes involving a driver over the limit rose for the first time in five years.
Vincent Parisis, chief executive of Etri, admitted that some drivers were using the service to drink and drive, knowing that they could choose a route home with a lower risk of being caught. But he claimed that the company was acting responsibly by including, in each text message, the number of a local taxi company and advice against drinking and driving.
“Of course, we will always have the risk that the service will be misused by people looking for an alternative route. On the other hand those people are already a danger,” he said.
The service – which costs drivers 75p per text message received – is already used by 150,000 drivers in France and Belgium and began operating in Britain last month. Drivers who send in information about police checkpoints are rewarded with three weeks’ free subscription.
Mary Williams, Brake’s chief executive, said: “Helping drink drivers evade detection is, in our view, perverting the course of justice and we are writing to Acpo. This so-called service will raise the risk of being killed by a drunken driver who has used the intelligence to carry on drinking.”
Ms Williams said that Etri was one of a growing number of companies offering services that make it harder for police to catch dangerous drivers. “Whether it’s tipping drivers off about speed cameras or alerting them to checkpoints, these devices are making our roads more dangerous,” she said. “They encourage drivers to see dodging the police as a game, but they result in more road deaths.”
Edmund King, president of the AA, said: “The responsible motorist has nothing to fear from police alcohol checks and therefore has no need of this service. Drivers shouldn’t play Russian roulette with their own lives and those of others. Fear of being breathalysed is an important deterrent and anything that makes people more complacent should be condemned.”
An AA Populus poll of 11,388 drivers found that 80 per cent admitted that they might have driven over the alcohol limit the morning after a night’s drinking.
Chief Inspector Donald McMillan, head of road policing for Central Scotland Police, said: “We have been concentrating on the ‘morning after’ issue very heavily during this year’s drink-drive campaign.”
Police are using new digital roadside breathalysers for the first time. These allow police to carry out readings accurate enough to be used in court without needing to test the driver again at a station.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article5425713.ece