[magosienne]

here's an article from the BBC :

France may breathalyse clubbers

France's cabinet is to hear a proposal to make breathalysers mandatory at late-night clubs and cafes from this summer when it meets on Monday.


The ecology and health ministers are due jointly to present a draft decree that applies to all such establishments remaining open until 0200.
Some 350 cafes and bars in western France have already run trials, Ecology Minister Jean-Louis Borloo said.


The move comes after a weekend of road accidents, some alcohol-related.
The Pentecostal holiday weekend saw at least 17 deaths in seven accidents, AFP news agency reports.


"Health Minister Roselyne Bachelot and I will present a decree to make electronic breathalyser tests obligatory in drinking establishments open until 0200 so that everyone can check their level, their condition upon leaving," Mr Borloo said on the France 2 television channel.


"I hope that by this summer, it will be obligatory in all such places."


In one of the weekend's worst accidents, four people aged between 15 and 26 were killed when the car they were in went off the road near Forbach, in eastern France.


Police said the 36-year-old driver, who survived, had been drinking.

Source


it's true alcohol kills many people here, and this weekend is particularly watched as we have a 5 days holiday (thursday to monday as thursday and monday are holidays, and usually you take a day off for friday ).
as to put breathalysers in cafes (it already exists for some clubs)... well, considering the number it's gonna be one hell of a challenge if every cafe must have one before summer but is it gonna change much the situation ?

also, if it's pretty easy to detect if someone is drunk (by blowing in a simple balloon if not the electronic version), the only way you can test people for drugs is a blood test(and to get it done...easier said than done), so even though i think it's good to be concerned about alcohol, it's not the only cause of death by car accidents, and we should concentrate on getting more ways to detect those other causes and prevent people from driving. if they are already, there's a chance they won't be stopped before they meet another car or a tree or whatever.

[Carolyn]

I wish we had them in Canada. Maybe there would be less alcohol related driving tragedies.

Thanks for sharing.

[Swizzy]

lame.

[Bec688]

I think it's a really good idea, it will help make peopel more aware of just how much they have drunk, and for those who think they'll be ok to drive, will really know if they are OK to drive.

I think at one of the pubs in town we have something similar to this.

[magosienne]

i think it's a nice idea, but i'm not sure it's gonna solve everything. we could make the owners more responsible, but the people who really want to get drunk, they will just visit one cafe/pub after another and you won't be able to control them.
also, for the people who just don't care and always think it only happens to the others, you may put a breathalyser right in front of their nose they would still not use it.

here's a video of the last campaign for road safety
the message is pretty obvious (although it's wrong in the sense we never announce people's deaths on the phone, policemen/gendarmes will come knocking at your door for that kind of news)