Australia's peak road safety body has called for alcohol interlocks to be fitted to every vehicle in Australia, requiring all drivers to sit a breath test each time they turn the ignition, to dramatically cut the high rate of alcohol-related road deaths.
The aggressive strategy for tackling alcohol-related road deaths and injuries has been put forward by AustRoads (which includes VicRoads and NSW Roads and Maritime Services) in a report that found that the rate of alcohol-related road deaths in Australia far outstrips global averages. 
The 178-page report, released last month, calls for existing interlock programs that target drink-drive offenders to be progressively expanded to all motorists, beginning with heavy vehicle operators and service vehicles such as school buses and taxis, and closely followed by P-platers.
The universal application of interlocks will ultimately save many lives, the report argues. The cost of installing and calibrating the devices would be borne by vehicle owners.
For businesses, the cost of interlocks should be viewed as an occupational health and safety requirement, the report said. It concedes cost could be an impediment, especially for non-offenders.
"This report finds that the widespread fitment of alcohol interlocks to vehicles driven by all offenders, and ultimately all vehicles, would significantly reduce the number of alcohol-related deaths and injuries on Australasian roads," the report states.
It cites 10 years of Australian crash data that shows that about one in four deaths on the road in Victoria and NSW is alcohol-related and one in five drivers injured in a crash has a blood-alcohol level above the legal limit of 0.05.
At 25 per cent, the proportion of alcohol-related deaths is also much higher than the global average of 15 per cent.
Each year about 25,000 NSW motorists and 15,000 Victorians are caught drink-driving and younger drivers (aged 29 and under) make up about 40 per cent of those, which is why the report argues interlock programs should become mandatory for P-plate drivers in the short term.
The report's lead author, Associate Professor Michael Fitzharris of the Monash University Accident Research Centre, said alcohol interlock programs should be expanded incrementally, with P-platers and drivers of commercial vehicles put at the front of the queue.
"For non-offender programs, to have the most safety benefit as a preventative road safety measure, having them as mandatory is certainly the way to go," Professor Fitzharris said.
Professor Fitzharris said some repeat offenders were known to pressure relatives or friends into blowing into interlocks on their behalf to get around the engine-disabling devices, but technological advances were making it harder to get away with this.
"You can imagine for an offender-based program, some offenders place significant pressure on family or someone else to blow into the device for them," he said. "That's been a substantial problem for those people involved because it's also an offence to do that."
Cameras that capture the moment an interlock is blown into have been fitted to new interlocks since   January 1, and the report predicts fingerprint recognition, real-time reporting of violations and GPS tracking are all imminent innovations.
But the Andrews government showed no enthusiasm for the proposal.
"Victoria's alcohol interlock scheme is among the toughest in Australia and there are no plans to make these devices mandatory for all road users," a spokeswoman for Roads Minister Luke Donnellan??? said.
More than 5500 people were surveyed for the report, which found near universal support for mandatory interlocks for drink-drive offenders (91 per cent approve), but middling support for a universal scheme - 48.6 per cent supported interlocks for "all drivers, all vehicles" and 51.6 per cent were against this.
Alcohol interlock programs differ from state to state. New South Wales switched from a voluntary to a mandatory program in   February, for repeat offenders and first-time offenders who blow over 0.15.
Victoria brought in tougher conditions in   October last year requiring all repeat drink-drivers, and anyone who blows over 0.07, to fit an interlock.
Currently 8861 vehicles in Victoria are fitted with an interlock and 1305 motorists have started using one since the tougher laws took effect.