Drivers fined $23 for not having $2 tool in car

Starting in the next few months, the French government will enforce a new driving law requiring all motorists to have a breathalyzer kit in their car.

French president Nicolas Sarkozy has made cutting down road deaths a priority, and this is how he plans to do it, reports The Local.

A kit costs somewhere between $2 and $3, says the president's office, but now a fine for not having one in-car will cost you 17 Euro ($23).

In 2007, Sarkozy said he'd get the number of road-related fatalities below 3,000 by 2012, which The Local says seems ambitious. While France has halved its rate of traffic-related deaths over the last 10 years, and 2010's numbers were a record low, they still saw nearly 4,000 deaths that year.

While tackling drinking-and-driving is a smart move on Sarkozy's part – France's road safety association says 28.5 percent of fatal car accidents involve a drunk driver – he also plans to install 400 speed cameras before year's end, and create a national day of rememberance for road accident victims.

Will compulsory in-car breathalyzers reduce the drunk driving rate? Should we be looking at something like this in Canada if it does?

(The Local.fr)