[Report] 'No Blow, Still Beep~' On-site Look at Non-contact Drunk Driving Crackdown (Comprehensive)

Warning Sound for Alcohol Content in Car
Similar to Gas Leak Detectors
Detects Chewing Gum and Air Fresheners
4 Vehicles Responded in 90-Minute Crackdown

[Gwangju=Asia Economy Reporter Yoo Byung-don] "We are conducting a drunk driving checkpoint. Please lower your mask, and you do not need to blow into the device."

At around 11 p.m. on the 20th, at the Yeokdong Samgeori intersection in Gwangju-si, Gyeonggi Province, police officers busily inserted breathalyzers into the windows of a white car driven by a man in his 50s. The officers moved the driver to a police vehicle and had him blow into the breathalyzer. The blood alcohol concentration was 0.071%, which corresponds to a license suspension. The driver protested, saying, "I only had two simple beers at a meal, but the reading came out too high," but since he was driving without a license and had an outstanding warrant for a fine, he was immediately handed over to the police station.

On the day when drunk driving checkpoints, which had been sparse due to the impact of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), resumed, the police applied a 'contactless alcohol detector' on site that can check for alcohol consumption without the driver having to blow. Developed by officers from the Gwangju Police Station in Gyeonggi Province, this detector resembles a 'selfie stick' and operates by being inserted into the vehicle through the lowered window to detect alcohol molecules in the air inside the car. It works on a principle similar to a gas leak detector. This is to minimize contact between the police officer conducting the alcohol test and the driver. If alcohol is detected inside the car, a red lamp on the detector lights up and a warning beep sounds for 5 seconds.

At around 10:12 p.m., a warning beep sounded from the alcohol detector. Following the officer's instructions, Kim (34) got out of the car and blew into the breathalyzer with all his might, but this time the alcohol concentration did not rise. The problem was the gum Kim was chewing. The scent from the gum was mistakenly recognized as alcohol by the detector. Kim said, "I was surprised because I hadn't been drinking, but the detector reacted," adding, "It seems the detector is very sensitive, but isn't that better for catching drunk drivers?" and sighed with relief.

An hour later, the detector also reacted in a car driven by a woman in her 20s. There was no sign of intoxication in the driver. Again, the blood alcohol concentration was 0.00%. This time, the cause was an air freshener sprayed inside the vehicle. A man in his 30s who witnessed the checkpoint tried to escape through a side road but was caught; his blood alcohol concentration was measured at 0.018%, and he was released with a warning. The man said, "I had one beer at 2 p.m." Gwangju Police Station's Security and Traffic Division Chief, Go Min-sik, explained, "During the pilot operation period, we are finding the most appropriate sensitivity and measurement methods."

During the 1 hour and 30 minutes of the drunk driving checkpoint that day, out of about 300 vehicles passing through the checkpoint, the detector reacted in 4 vehicles, and among them, one driver's blood alcohol concentration exceeded the legal limit. Since the National Police Agency suspended drunk driving checkpoints on January 28, the number of drunk driving accidents and fatalities over the past two months increased by 24.4% (from 3,296 to 4,101 cases) and 6.8% (from 74 to 79 people), respectively, compared to the previous year. The National Police Agency plans to analyze and improve the results after a week-long pilot operation of the contactless detector and then promote its nationwide expansion.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.