Extract from Victoria Australia which has a rigourour breath testing program in place for years...
from my driving experience there you get tested frequently. It would be the equivalent to having breath testing set up on the truck weigh stations on QEW and testing every second car for a few hours 2 or 3 times per month. In toronto, there would be a station setup every day somewhere int he city doing this type of testing.
The full article is here:
http://www.driveandstayalive.com/articles%20and%20topics/drunk%20driving/artcl--drunk-driving-0010--random_breath_testing.htm
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RANDOM BREATH TESTING
Objectives
In response to the magnitude of the alcohol affected driving problem in Victoria in 1977, the Government of the day introduced random interception and testing of drivers for the presence of alcohol without the intercepting police being required to have any previous knowledge of any alcohol affect on that driver. This was the birth of Random Breath Testing as we now know it. The original objective of this legislation was to identify and prosecute all drivers found to have a B.A.C. over .05% and remove them from our roadways.
Immediately following the implementation of Random Breath Testing, an immediate and significant reduction in driver/rider death over .05% was measured which continued until the 1980's when that reduction levelled out.
An investigation in 1987 throughout Australia on R.B.T. by Prof Ross Homel and others found that the apparent effectiveness of R.B.T. was due to its preventative capacities rather than the detection of offenders for which it was originally designed (Homel, Caseldine and Kearns, 1988). It is now accepted in Victoria that the true objective of R.B.T. is "to create a perception amongst the driving public that if they drink then drive, their apprehension is inevitable". Whether that threat is real or otherwise is not the point, the key is whether the public believes it to be.
Homel found that in order to conduct an effective R.B.T. campaign it was necessary that the enforcement campaign be:-
* highly visible,
* conducted as often as possible,
* rigorously enforced so as to ensure credibility,
* Well publicised.
All factors were vital in order to maximise effectiveness and a reduction in any factor would reduce that overall effectiveness (Homel, Caseldine and Kearns et al, 1988).
