Swedes set an example for the Garda

Roadside breathalyser equipment is to be given to every member of Sweden's 17,000 strong police force this summer as part of a major clampdown on drink-driving there, a road safety conference in Dublin will be told tomorrow.

Örjan Brodin, who has overall responsibility for traffic policy at the Swedish Police Board, said handheld breathalysers were being provided to each officer so that every time a motorist was stopped by police, regardless of the reason, they would be breathalysed.

This policy contrasts sharply with the approach of An Garda Síochána, in which only one in five gardaí are trained to operate roadside breathalysers, as reported in yesterday's Irish Times.

Mr Brodin said conviction rates for drivers charged with drink driving in Sweden were "between 90 and 95 per cent". In comparison up to four out of every 10 Irish motorists charged with drink driving are not convicted.

The Garda Commissioner will be questioned on why so many cases fail when he appears at the Oireachtas Committee on Transport tomorrow. He will also be asked to explain differences in the number of drink driving prosecutions reported in the Garda Annual Report and in replies to parliamentary questions.

Labour Party transport spokeswoman Róisín Shortall says the 2004 Garda Annual Report reported 3,180 drink driving convictions, whereas figures released by the Department of Justice gives the number of convictions for that year as 5,338.

However, as 9,126 people were prosecuted for the offence, the figures indicate that 40 per cent of drivers tested as over the limit escaped prosecution.

Delegates at a Sweden-Ireland road safety seminar at the National Concert Hall tomorrow will be told by Mr Brodin that widening responsibility for drink-driving enforcement to every officer would release Sweden's traffic police to devote more time to other tasks.

The goal of this strategy is to carry out two-million breath tests a year to clamp down on drink driving. Using random breath testing, Swedish police combine high visibility alcohol limit enforcement with targeting of roads near bars and restaurants where drink driving is known to take place.

Sweden has an allowable blood alcohol limit of 0.2mg/ml compared to Ireland's 0.8mg/ml.

In a survey by European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) yesterday, Sweden rated fourth out of 25 European Union countries in terms of road safety enforcement. Ireland rated 13th, and in particular its enforcement of drink driving law came in for criticism. The report calls for the allowable blood alcohol limit to be no higher that 0.5 mg/ml.

Last year 450 people died on Swedish roads, compared to 400 in Ireland. However Sweden's population of 9 million is more than twice that of Ireland's.

Delegates will also be told that Sweden is to introduce more than 700 fixed cameras to cover all major roads.

"Last year we issued more than 180,000 speeding fines and with the new automated cameras we hope bring that level up to more than 200,000," Mr Brodin said. The goal of the Swedish Police Board is to reduce road fatalities to 270 or fewer next year, a target Mr Brodin admits will be a challenge.

Bjorn Stafbom from the National Swedish Road Administration, is another who will address the road safety conference.

He told Motors provisional drivers could drive on public roads in Sweden before passing their test if they were accompanied by a licence-holder with more than five-years experience.

However, both the learner driver and the licence holder must take a training course before the provisional driver started driving, he said. "New drivers have to sit a number of compulsory tests on handling a skid and risk assessment," added Mr Stafbom.

Sweden is also encouraging the use of so-called alcolocks, Mr Stafbom said, particularly for drivers repeatedly prosecuted for drink driving. These require the owner to blow into a form of breathalyser before the car will start.

He noted that more that 10,000 vehicles used by Sweden's transport service were already fitted with alcohol interlocks and that Sweden's car makers - Volvo and Saab - were working on next generation systems.