Internet Business Daily

Mothers Against Drunk Driving (M.A.D.D.) along with the United States Department of Transportation launched an anti-DUI campaign that includes getting states to require a breathalyser device installed in the vehicles of everyone convicted of drunk driving, including first offenders.

So far only New Mexico has a law for first time offenders, while forty other states and Washington D.C. require the device for only some offenders. M.A.D.D. President Glynn Birch stated recently at a news conference, “If we can’t stop drunks from driving, then we’ll stop vehicles from driving drunks”.

The interlocking devices would require drivers to blow into what is essentially a breathalyser to determine Blood Alcohol Concentration (B.A.C.). The vehicle would not start if the drivers B.A.C. was above the preset level. Other devices could require the driver to breathe into the device periodically. From 2004 – 2005 DUI related fatalities in New Mexico dropped by more than 11 percent, a statistic that Dick Roth, director of Impact DWI, said was due much in part to the interlock devices.

New Mexico first passed the Ignition Interlock Law in 1999 and the law was amended in 2005 to require all New Mexicans convicted of drunken driving to install the interlock on their vehicle. M.A.D.D. estimates 1,900 lives would be saved annually if this program were adopted nationwide.

Among Roth’s legislative proposals, he will include a $300 fine and immobilizing vehicles for one month for any offenders who tamper with their ignition interlocks. Hopefully once this becomes law in New Mexico, other states will start to follow suit.

According to M.A.D.D., nearly 13,000 people are killed by drunk drivers each year with a B.A.C. of .08 or higher and countless others are injured.

No related posts.