TRANSPORT department officials are remaining tight-lipped about exactly what measures will be proposed in a consultation document on drink-driving to be published later this year.

But it is widely expected to recommend allowing police to randomly breath-test motorists.

No doubt this will upset some people. The Association of British Drivers is already calling it an "infringement of people's liberty". Others argue such a move would make little real difference - and some people will still drink and drive no matter what powers the police have.

We disagree.

According to the RAC, alcohol is involved in about one in six road accidents. It agrees with Chief Inspector David Hall, of York Police, that random breath-testing would act as a "big deterrence" to anyone tempted to drink-drive and would lead to a real reduction in road accidents.

We do not lightly advocate increasing the police's powers to stop motorists. But if it could help to reduce drink-driving, we believe this may be an experiment well worth trying.

It is all very well police breathalysing motorists once an accident has happened. But that smacks of closing the stable door after the horse has already bolted. As Chief Insp Hall says, powers to carry out breath tests at random would enable police to target individual motorists who were suspected of being regular drink-drivers.

They could also target particular stretches of road where drink-driving was thought to be a problem. Such a focused approach, police believe, may well persuade people to think twice before getting behind the wheel if they have had a drink.

And that in turn may well save lives.