Doctors will soon be able to recommend that special ‘alcohol locks’ be fixed to the cars of those they deem at risk of drinking and driving.

The new law – which will come into force next year – will permit the doctor to mandate the lock if they as much as ‘suspect’ that a patient might drink and drive.

Janne Nanttari, the senior legal officer at the Ministry of Transport and Communication, told 65DN that, ‘Already doctors have the obligation to inform the police if a patient with a valid driving licence has an alcohol problem.’

As a consequence, until now, the patient has simply lost their driving licence and ‘so the change will make it easy for the doctor-patient relationship, which is why a lot of doctors are very pleased about alcolocks.’ Alcoholics who go their doctor will no longer risk losing their driving licences.

According to Nanttari, the locks involve the installation of a computer in the car which – every-so-often – tells the driver to blow into a breathalyser. If, at any point, he is found to be over the limit the car will stop.

Research in Sweden has found that if heavy drinkers give up drinking and start a diet they may also find themselves unable to get home. Dieting can cause a spike in acetone in your breath which confuses the lock.

However, Nanttari is sceptical. ‘I have been working with alcolocks for seven years and I have never heard of that. There are a number of ways that you can get false positive but I don’t think it’s a significant problem.’

Nanttari defends the alcolocks, arguing that, ‘It is everyone’s right not to have drunk drivers on the roads.’