MHF demands an end to driving license revocation for high PEth values – calls for mandatory alcohol interlocks

Tomas Jonsson

19.05.2025 - No one should die from drunk driving. Revoking a driving license for someone with an addiction problem is a threat to road safety. It would be better to prescribe alcohol interlocks, so that it can be guaranteed that the driver cannot operate their vehicle while impaired, says Tomas Jonsson, Head of Traffic Safety at the organization MHF.

Of those who die in traffic, approximately every 10th person is killed by someone who lacks a valid driving license. Revoking a driving license when someone has been assessed to have alcohol abuse or overconsumption often leads to the driver continuing to drive – without a license.

Research and statistics show that there are more successful approaches than revoking driving licenses. A clear example is the use of alcohol interlocks. Today, alcohol interlocks are used both to quality-assure transport and for convicted drunk drivers who have the option to participate in an alcohol interlock program, with the condition of an alcohol interlock in their car.

We want the Swedish Transport Agency to be given the option to prescribe alcohol interlocks instead of driving license revocation in cases of abuse.

Even today, alcohol interlocks could be used as an aid by Sweden's medical profession to monitor whether patients with high alcohol levels are following doctors' orders and not driving under the influence. But first, alcohol interlocks must be classifiable as assistive devices.

We want doctors to be given the option to prescribe alcohol interlocks. One should not have to commit a crime to receive help and support with an alcohol interlock. The cost of an alcohol interlock today is no more than for many other medical aids that doctors have in their toolkit to support and help patients feel better and live a good life. Alcohol interlock use with follow-up has been shown in many different studies to be a better rehabilitation tool than many other traditional treatments for addiction.

All data is saved in the alcohol interlocks so that a doctor or addiction nurse can easily follow up on the log and use the information as important data in continued treatment. Then the focus would shift from total alcohol consumption to whether the patient has attempted to drive a car while impaired.

In public debate, it has appeared as though it is the Swedish Transport Agency that has decided that a person with an addiction may not hold a driving license. This is entirely governed by the EU Driving Licence Directive 2006/126/EC, which currently prevents people with alcohol dependence from holding a driving license.

We from MHF, together with VTI (Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute) and ETSC (European Transport Safety Council), have previously approached the European Commission and its Director-General for Mobility and Transport to bring about a change to the Driving Licence Directive. Now it seems that the new 4th Driving Licence Directive, which is currently being voted on, will allow people with alcohol dependence to hold a driving license if an alcohol interlock is installed.

Against this background, we want the Government to task the Swedish Transport Agency with preparing for the introduction of alcohol interlocks as an important measure, instead of driving license revocation, upon an abuse diagnosis. We also want the Government to task the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs with investigating the possibility for doctors to use alcohol interlocks, or similar equipment, as an assistive device to prevent and monitor patients suspected of having alcohol abuse or overconsumption.

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Learn more from https://www.mhf.se/