The computer-based quality control program for evidential breath analysers (Alcotest 7110 MK III FIN) has been in use in Finland since July 1998. Eighty-five instruments have been placed at police stations in different regions of the country. Every instrument is connected to a personal computer (PC) with a specially designed program. Every PC is further connected to a central computer of the police. The collected data is transferred daily to the National Public Health Institute (KTL). There, a specially designed program checks the incoming data. The data from each case is sent through this control system and a check and a recalculation of both technical and analytical data takes place. The rest of the information related to the driving situation is weekly sent to KTL. This data forms the base for epidemiological statistics. KTL also analyses all the blood samples of drunken drivers in Finland. Therefore, it has the corresponding data from those blood samples too. The centralised system with breath samples makes it possible to analyse the whole material and to follow the situation of drunken driving in Finland as a whole.
Samenvatting