An alcohol ignition interlock prototype was developed back in the 1970s, and came into commercial use in the 1980s. In the 1990s, ignition interlock trials began in Canada and the USA. In Sweden a trial ignition interlock programme began in 1999 as a voluntary alternative to licence revocation for DWI offenders. The Swedish programme runs for two years. Only mixed abusers and people with serious medical problems are excluded from taking part in the programme. In order to be allowed to continue in the trial, certain special requirements are set. One absolute demand is that the trial participant must undergo all the stipulated controls. With regard to the rigorous medical conditions placed on participants (verifiable sobriety for the whole of the second year of the trial) and the high cost for the participants (approximately SEK 40-50,000), only a small proportion of convicted drink-drivers are likely to apply for the programme. Bearing in mind these factors, we can therefore expect a positively selected group compared with the DWI offender population as a whole. For this reason, both social (professional work, income, marital status, education etc.) and psychological (e.g. strict attitudes to alcohol and driving, goal-consciousness and motivation to change alcohol habits) selection factors should exist. These factors will, together with the strict control programme, probably result in a better forecast for the trial group in the alcohol ignition interlock programme than for other convicted drink-drivers in terms of continued alcohol consumption and new DWI offences. The purpose of this study is to find out what the trial participants are like in some relevant respects, and how well they succeed in the two-year alcohol ignition interlock programme. The researchers aim in particular to study whether, using previous register details about poor health, current alcohol habits and psychological situation, it is possible to predict which participants will not manage to complete the programme. (Author/publisher)
Abstract