Volume 3 Issue 34 September 2004
Devices that check a driver’s breath for alcohol are keeping drunks off the road. In just the first year of Pennsylvania's Ignition Interlock Law, over 10,000 drivers were prevented from driving drunk. Similar and even better results have been reported by other states with laws that mandate that a driver convicted of Driving Under the Influence (DUI) have an Ignition Interlock on his or her car. The devices are easy to use and hard to beat – thought nothing in this world is foolproof if someone with the right technical knowledge is determined to beat the system.
Drivers must pass a breath test before the system will allow them to start their vehicles, and they must periodically test themselves throughout their drives. Their blood-alcohol level must be below 0.025 percent - less than a quarter of the legal limit - to keep the car running. After three lockouts, the driver must pay to have the car taken to a certified service center in order to have the system reset.
Under Pennsylvania's law, drivers - whose licenses have been suspended for two years - may get the licenses back after one year if they agree to have the interlock device installed in their vehicle. From Oct. 1, 2001, to Sept. 30, 2002, 1,855 of the 18,600 eligible DUI offenders chose that option, according to the report by the Pennsylvania DUI Association, which was contracted to evaluate the system. The interlocks' internal logs showed the devices kept those drivers from driving drunk 10,142 times. Pennsylvania is one of the first states to complete a comprehensive evaluation of its ignition interlock program, and other states are looking at Pennsylvania as an example.
The effectiveness of other state’s similar laws is not yet available in hard numbers according to the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators and researchers. “It has sometimes been difficult to track the success of ignition interlock programs. The information that comes back to us is very anecdotal,” describes Dr. James Frank, a psychologist in the office of research and technology with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. But the anecdotal results are so impressive that most states which do not have laws requiring the devices on the vehicles of convicted drunk drivers are working to create such laws.
Forty other states and the District of Columbia have some form of ignition interlock law, according to Mothers Against Drunk Driving. New Mexico's ignition interlock law went into effect Jan. 1, so transportation officials there said they are just starting to work out their system - and they're keeping an eye on what Pennsylvania is doing. "We're going back to change the law to have some fixes. I will probably be calling them to see how it worked for them." explains Virginia Jaramillo, chief of the traffic safety bureau of the New Mexico State Highway and Transportation.
Of course the Pennsylvania system has some bugs – as all high technology systems do. The main complaints about the program so far have involved drivers having to figure out how to get the machine to work. "There's an extremely large learning curve. There are five types of approved ignition interlock devices, with some requiring the driver to just inhale or exhale, while some require the driver to exhale while humming,” describes Anthony Tassoni, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania DUI Association. But convicted drunk drivers make the effort as the technology is the only way they can get back on the road at all. Convicted drunk drivers know that they should not have drunk and driven. They also know that the system will keep them from drinking and driving again which makes the roads safer for both the DUI offender and the rest of us on the road.
There is one addition to the law requiring these devices that would make us even much safer from drunk drivers – require all cars to have these devices so no driver can drink and drive even the first time. Are you listening Detroit? Can you hear us Federal and state lawmakers? Too many innocents have died on the roads already due to even first time drunk drivers and drunk drivers who have not been caught before having an accident. We want all drunk and intoxicated drivers off the road for their safety and ours.
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