Alcolock, the mandatory breathalyser in Spain from 6 July

Controlling alcohol consumption when driving is essential to prevent many road accidents. 27% of fatal accidents occurring in Spain involve alcohol as a contributing factor. For this reason, the work carried out to prevent people from driving with alcohol in their system is essential.

On 21 March, the new Traffic Law came into force, bringing important new measures. Among them, the incorporation of a pre-installation for an ignition interlock system through a breathalyser built into the vehicle. This has been approved across Europe and, for the time being, only the pre-installation is required at European level.

From there, each country will legislate to activate its use. In Spain, vehicles used for passenger transport will be obliged to have the pre-installation. The system will only be usable from that date onwards, since vehicles registered before that date cannot be fitted with it due to its technical complexity.

The Alcolock prevents the vehicle from starting if it detects that the driver exceeds the maximum permitted level of alcohol. In this way, many road accidents will be avoided and lives will be saved. This measure will become mandatory shortly, once the legal framework for its use is established.

Although it will be implemented from 6 July 2022, two years later, on 6 July 2024, its use will become mandatory in cars and passenger transport vehicles. Its use will be essential for the vehicle to start, so it appears that driving on the roads and streets across Europe will become safer.

Anti-fraud systems

One of the questions this system raises is: what prevents another driver from blowing into the Alcolock? It will be equipped with a user recognition system, so it will be programmed to identify the user and will prevent any type of fraud.

As for how it works, the Alcolock analyses alcohol in exhaled air from 0 to 2.5 mg/l within a maximum time of 25 seconds. It can also store a record of up to 100,000 tests for monitoring if necessary. If the driver stops for more than 30 minutes during a journey, they will have to take the test again before restarting the vehicle, a measure imposed to increase safety on every trip.

For the time being and until 2024, this requirement will be gradually introduced into passenger transport vehicles, as the different countries legislate on the matter.