Coalition push alcohol locks after fatal hit-and-run

Coalition parties VVD and PvdA are pushing for the alcohol lock for chronic drunk drivers after the hit-and-run accident that left a one month old baby dead in Lutten last week. The VVD and PvdA wants to enable judges to impose an immobilizer in the vehicles of repeat offenders as soon as possible. VVD Minister Melanie Schultz van Haegen will announce the fate of the alcohol lock this week. The Supreme Court and the Council of State previously ruled that the Central Bureau of Driver's Licenses (CBR) can not impose this measure as the alcohol lock must be seen as a punishment rather than as a behavioral measure. It was recently revealed that Gerrit G., the driver who caused the hit-and-run accident, had been drinking before he hit a new father and his one month old baby in Lutten last week. The baby did not survive the accident. Parliamentarians now think that more should be done to tackle drunk driving. "The risk of being caught must increase," according to VVD Member of Parliament Barbara Visser. She also wonders whether the offender's car should be taken away, as Traffic Safety Netherlands proposed in De Telegraaf yesterday. The PvdA and D66 think that the government should examine this possibility.