In July 2003, a drink driving monitoring system became operational in the Dutch province of Zeeland. The monitoring system is organised in such way that not only the drink driving trend in Zeeland can be determined, but that it can also be compared with the national trend. Within the framework of the monitoring system, the Traffic Police Unit of Zeeland annually conducts 12 random breath testing sessions during Saturday nights, between 9 pm and 4 am. These sessions are evenly distributed over the four quarters of the year and the three police districts that Zeeland has. Halfway through each session, a one-hour break is scheduled. Basically, the drink driving trend in Zeeland can be determined every three months, based on moving annual totals. The roadside screening results, together with date and time of the tests, are automatically stored in the breath tester's data recorder. For apprehended offenders, some additional data that are relevant to drink driving enforcement policy are manually entered in the data file. It regards the variables sex, age, nationality, type of drinking place, and recidivism. During the first year, from July 2003 to June 2004, a sample of 5,369 motorists were breath tested. The proportion of motorists exceeding the statutory BAC-limit of 0.5 g/l was 2.5%. In the police district of Walcheren, this proportion was significantly higher than in the other two districts, Oosterscheldebekken and Zeeuws-Vlaanderen: 3.2% and 2.2%, respectively. Another remarkable result was that in the police districts of Walcheren and Zeeuws-Vlaanderen, one third of the apprehended offenders had the Belgian nationality. In the district of Oosterscheldebekken this was the case for none of the offenders. Recording of recidivism was insufficient to draw a conclusion on it. Comparison with the national drink driving roadside survey showed that drink driving in Zeeland in 2003 did not differ from the rest of the Netherlands.
Abstract