On this day in 1983 it was one year since Canberra had seen random breath-testing implemented on its roads.
The Australian Federal Police believed that a reduced percentage of drivers charged with alcohol offences after accidents, and reduced injury rates in accidents were the result of the introduction of the random breath-testing system.
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Throughout the year, 43,244 motorists had been stopped at random, with 3550 having some degree of alcohol present.
Of these, 200 motorists had been charged.
The acting Station Sergeant Sigi Berzins said that, while in the early days of random testing the number of people charged was about one in 400 to 500, it had increased to about two for the same total.
He said this may have been due to the publicity of the breath-testing scheme in the early months.
But as the festive season had begun, the police suspected the numbers of drink-drivers would increase. The police would be out in full force to minimise drink driving, using breath-testing as one method to do so.
