A new roadside breathalyser test could make it easier to catch those who risk lives by drink driving.
The technology would stop those who drive while over the alcohol limit from 'sobering up' before further tests at a police station.
While the new tests are not being used, the government has announced a "competition" calling for businesses to come forward with proposed technologies that would quickly calculate alcohol levels without further testing.
The roads minister Jesse Norman said: "The drink drive limit has helped to give us one of the safest road networks in the world but there is always more we can do.
"This new mobile breathalyser technology will enable the police to enforce the alcohol limit more rigorously on those who still choose to drive after drinking, putting others at risk."
Currently, police are able to stop a driver if they believe the person has been drinking, has committed a traffic offence, or if they have been involved in a crash.
Officers will breathalyse the driver on the side of the road which will give an immediate result, however if you fail the test the suspect has to be taken to a police station for a further test.
If the drivers fails the second test, they will be charged.
The new technology from government would mean drivers could be charged without the need for a second test, freeing up police time and resources. It would also mean drink drivers do not have time to 'sober up' before the second test at the station.
The Department for Transport has poured £350,000 into a competition that launched on Sunday, June 10. Businesses are being invited to submit proposed roadside technologies that will rapidly calculate the level of alcohol exhaled.
Government says police forces throughout the UK could be using the device by summer 2020.
In 2016, more than 460,000 people underwent breath tests with almost 59,000 testing positively or refusing to be breathalysed.
The competition ties in with a £480,000 government-funded trial to find the real cause of crashes on the roads.
A new approach to road casualty investigation, lead by the RAC Foundation, will see dedicated teams carrying out in-depth research to get a better understanding of what causes collisions.
RAC Foundation director Steve Gooding said: "We are keen to seized the opportunity to work with the DfT, the police and others to explore the scope for learning more about the causes of the road crashes that continue to blight - and curtail - so many lives, in particular to establish the practicalities, costs and full benefits of tackling and pre-empting them more effectively."