In order to study the feasibility of alcolock implementation in a European context, a qualitative field trial was conducted simultaneously in four European countries. The objective of this trial was to assess the practical, psychological, social and behavioural impact of alcolocks by interviewing the drivers about their experiences. Five groups of drivers drove with an alcolock for one year: Norwegian and Spanish bus drivers, German truck drivers and Belgian drink-driving offenders and alcohol dependent patients. Before, during and after the one-year trial-period, the drivers and their social surrounding were interviewed. From these interviews, and from the data recorded by the alcolocks, it appeared that alcolocks are relatively practicable in both commercial and non-commercial contexts. Using the device did not interfere significantly with the drivers’ tasks and was generally evaluated as easy. The general acceptance of the alcolocks was good and remained high throughout the entire twelve-month period. In the commercial trials relatively few positive breath tests were recorded, whereas half of the offenders in the non-commercial trial recorded ten or more failed breath tests. The fact that almost no failed breath tests occurred while driving in the offender subgroup, illustrates a clear behavioural impact of the alcolock. From the interviews with the commercial drivers, it appeared that the truck drivers’ clients reacted rather indifferently, whereas bus passengers had a positive attitude towards the devices. This confirmed the hypothesis that alcolocks may be marketed as an element of quality improvement. All together, the results showed that it is feasible to implement alcolocks in different commercial and noncommercial contexts, on the condition that the introduction of the devices, the inclusion process and the monitoring procedures are carefully prepared. (Author/publisher)
Samenvatting