Since Australia was mentioned I might as well share my experience living here. RBT (random breath testing) is heavily utilized. In my 9 years here I have been tested 4 times compared to zero times in my previous 10 years in Canada. I've also driven into at least another 5 checkshops but was waived through because they were full. I don't like it but have come to accept the loss of rights as a requirement of a license and that there is a chance I could be randomly tested any time I am on the road.
It it definitely random. The police will set up an area, usually somewhere hidden away on a minor arterial road, and start pulling over every driver until the checkstop is full. Once pulled over a straw is put into your face and you are told to blow (the cops don't bother with the "have you been drinking" preamble). They also have random drug testing (RDTs) but they are less common due to the length of time to get a saliva test result. These concern me more than the alcohol testing as I am not sure a saliva test gives you can accurate measurement of impairment. They also do not test for cocaine which means the wealthy drug users are not caught.
Something I have noticed is that the majority of stops I have run into are set up in the mornings around 10am. It isn't likely isn't the best time to catch drunk drivers but it is a time when the roads are busy and you can easily meet a quota. Hence my comments in a previous post that these rules are more focused on testing as many people as possible not catching as many drunk drivers as possible.
Speaking of quotas, the Victorian police force was recently caught out for faking tests:
https://www.news.com.au/national/vic...f3c0b20c0c3dfc
Quote:
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LAST week it emerged that Victorian police officers were faking their way through random breath-tests by blowing into devices themselves. The rort, uncovered after a whistleblower spoke out, forced Victoria Police to admit more than 258,000 random breath tests had been falsified over the past five years.The shocking findings were detailed in an internal report that revealed officers had faked more than 1.5 per cent of its 17.7 million preliminary roadside breath tests to meet quotas or to avoid breath testing motorists. In the wake of the damning statistics, Victoria’s Transport Accident Commission (TAC) suspended the $4 million in annual funding it gives to the state’s police force. But the Herald Sun is reporting the more accurate number of false results might be closer to one million.
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Yes Australia has done a great job reducing drunk driving incidents but there is more to it then just randomly testing everyone and I believe there is a more efficient use of police time than 10am checkstops. This seems to be accepted by society here though so I do not see things changing.