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An ignition interlock device (IID), aka breath alcohol ignition interlock device (BIID) is a device that requires the testing of a drivers blood alcohol concentration (BAC) to start and continue drive a vehicle. The IID will not allow the car to start if the driver’s BAC concentration is over the programmed limit; which is usually .04 except in cases of multiple DUIs or DUI manslaughter/intoxication assault where the IID may require a .01 BAC or below. The device also requires breath samples at random times while driving to prevent others from taking the test for them.

Will I have to install an ignition interlock device in my car?

It’s unlikely if this is your first offense, but likely if this is your second or greater. Some states have it as possibility for a first offense only if you ,for example, caused injury or property damage, some states such as Arizona, New Mexico, Illinois and Louisiana require it for a first time offense in order to avoid license suspension and other states do not have it as a possibility for a first time offense; as I stated above it is likely you will have to install a IID if you are convicted of DUI 2 or more time. Every state now has it as a possibility for 2 o more offenses. Other states, such as Florida, are now allowing 4th time offenders to drive again with a IID installed. If you have been accused and not yet convicted of DUI/DWI I would recommend you talk to a drunk driving lawyer in your state about your situation.

Do I have to pay to have one installed?

Yes. Installation and other charges can be quite expensive actually. Installation commonly costs around $200 and you will be required to pay a monthly fee of around $100, for any maintenance expenses and calibration fees every 1-2 months of $50 or more. Failure to have the device calibrated at it’s scheduled time can be considered a violation of probation. In some states DUI fees can be applied to the expenses of the IID and in some states they cannot.

Legislation requiring certain Tennessee DUI offenders to use an ignition interlock device to operate their vehicle made it out of the General Assembly’s so-called “black hole” subcommittee on Wednesday.

Interlock devices are attached to the steering wheel of a car with a tube the driver must breathe into to ignite the engine.

The interlock bill, sponsored by Kingsport GOP state Rep. Tony Shipley, advanced by a voice vote in the House Budget Subcommittee over a competing measure sponsored by state Rep. Henry Fincher, D-Cookeville.

“I have been working on this legislation for over a year, and I am committed to seeing it through to the end,” Shipley said in a prepared release following the vote.

Fincher’s bill, advocated by the Tennessee chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), stayed alive but was placed behind the proposed budget.

“I would point out to this committee that this bill is tougher on crime,” Fincher said of his legislation. “It made the state more money. It would have saved more lives. … It’s beyond me why the other bill got through.”

Subcommittee Chairman Harry Tindell, D-Knoxville, told Fincher: “The committee felt (Shipley’s bill) was responsible legislation. Yours was well-intended as well. We can only pass one on the same subject, obviously.”

The Senate companion to Shipley’s bill, sponsored by Mount Juliet GOP state Sen. Mae Beavers, unanimously passed in the state Senate in mid-April. With Wednesday’s subcommittee vote, Shipley’s bill moves on to be considered by the full House Finance Committee.

The Senate companion to Fincher’s bill was introduced by Oak Ridge GOP state Sen. Randy McNally, who did not advance it in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

“I would just point out the practical problem with the second bill is that it is dead in the Senate,” House Finance Committee Chairman Craig Fitzhugh, D-Ripley, said of Fincher’s bill.

But Tindell added: “If Representative Shipley’s bill does not pass, it would be quite alive.”

As amended, the Senate version of Shipley’s bill requires the use of the interlock devices if the offender has a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.15 percent or higher; is accompanied by a person under 18 years of age; or violates the present implied consent laws.

The legislation also provides that those convicted of drunk driving with a BAC under 0.15 have the option to install an interlock device instead of being geographically restricted by a court.

Fincher’s legislation required interlocks for all first-, second- and third-time DUI offenders.

His bill also mandated an alternative form of monitoring, either an in-home device or a continuous alcohol monitoring ankle bracelet, for any offender who claims not to have a vehicle, according to MADD.

Fincher’s bill is “very similar” to laws in New Mexico and Arizona, where 35 percent and 33 percent reductions have occurred in alcohol-related traffic fatalities, MADD noted.

MADD said more than 320 people were killed in drunk driving crashes in Tennessee during 2008.

As of last January, 2,743 Tennessee driver’s license holders had an interlock restriction, while 580 license holders had an interlock device installed, according to the Department of Finance and Administration.

For more information, go to www.capitol.tn.gov. Shipley’s bill is HB 2768. Fincher’s bill is HB 2917.

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Authorities say the worst part about drinking and driving is it can turn the most average, polite decent people into an extremely dangerous driver. They say most people arrested for DWI’s are people who make one bad decision go through the system and learn from it, but too often they see repeat offenders.

“The ignition interlock is the logical next step the technology is there.”

They say it’s in the stats. More people are killed in drinking and driving accidents than homicides. In Minnesota, 1 in 8 drivers have a DWI and there are 35 to 40,000 DUI arrests made each year.

“Until we’re able to drive that fatality rate as far as alcohol related crashes down to zero, we’ve all got a lot more work to do.”

North Dakota actually has the ignition lock law for repeat offenders. The judge here at Fargo’s municipal court says it is a good tool but the problem is too many judges across the state are handing out a mandatory minimum for a DUI offense.”

“You have judges who treat it like a traffic violation in terms of the sentencing authority they have. And judges who treat it as seriously as it is. We don’t have any uniformity not only in North Dakota, but in this country. They keep on passing laws and they don’t use the laws that are on the books that are really good laws.”

With all of the DWI related deaths, everyone can agree something has to be done. How and when we get there is still up for debate. The House and Senate “ignition lock device bills” are making their way through committees right now. Neither has made it to the floor.

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Illinois now requires first-time DUI offenders to have an ignition interlock device installed in their vehicle or lose driving privileges. Officials say the program helps makes driving safer.

April 13, 2010 /24-7PressRelease/ — State Officials: Interlock Ignition DUI Law is Working

Illinois drivers convicted of DUI have two choices: losing their driving privileges or keeping them. Most people will choose the latter. When they do, they’ll have to pass a breathalyzer test every time they drive their car.

For over a year, people convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol have been able to apply to have an ignition interlock device installed in their vehicle. Before the vehicle can be started, the driver must blow into the interlock ignition device on the dashboard, which detects alcohol in the person’s breath. If more than a certain amount of alcohol is detected, the car won’t start.

Beginning on January 1 of last year, Illinois, Nebraska, Alaska, Colorado and Washington all required the devices for drivers convicted for the first time of drunken driving.

Read More.

New Jersey could become the 12th state to require some first-time drunken drivers to prove their sobriety every time they get behind the wheel.

A bill approved by the Assembly Judiciary Committee Monday would require first-time New Jersey drunken drivers with a blood-alcohol level of .15 or higher — nearly twice New Jersey’s .08 limit — to install a lock on their vehicle’s ignition.

The lock would release after the driver blows into the Breathalizer-like device and is deemed sober.

If passed, it would strengthen current New Jersey DUI law requiring locks for repeat offenders.

The bill is dubbed “Ricci’s Law” after a south Jersey teen Ricci Branca who was run down on his bicycle by a repeat drunken driver three years ago.

Eleven states have passed laws since 2005 requiring the locks for all or some first-time offenders, according to Mindy Lazar, executive director of MADD New Jersey. Eight of the states require the locks for all first-time offenders, regardless of blood alcohol content: Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Louisiana, Nebraska, New Mexico and Washington.

The vote to forward the legislation for a possible vote by the full Assembly came after nearly an hour of testimony from proponents and those who expressed concerns. A similar version is awaiting consideration in a Senate committee.

Mindy Lazar, executive director of MADD New Jersey, said New Jersey — a state with 19,481 drivers with three or more NJ DUI convictions — “needs to do more to fight drunk driving.”

But, Assemblyman Reed Gusciora, D-Princeton, urged colleagues to hold the proposal until its kinks could be worked out.

For example, Gusciora said the current bill would make it advantageous for drivers to refuse a field Breathalyzer test if the result would mean automatic installation of interlocks and refusing the test would not.

Gusciora also raised issue with the cost of the locks — at least $75 per month — in addition to the myriad other fines and surcharges a DUI conviction brings. He said the total penalty — $10,000 over three years — would be too much for some to bear.

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That is correct my friends. The Wyoming DUI bill requiring ignition interlock devices for DUI offenders has OFFICIALLY passed.

The Wyoming Legislature has agreed on a bill that would require some convicted drunken drivers to install breathalyzers in their cars.

The Senate and House both voted Thursday to approve a compromise version of the bill hammered out by a joint conference committee.

Under the bill, repeat DUI offenders and those arrested for a first time with a blood-alcohol content of .15 or more would be required to install ignition interlock devices in their cars. If the device detects alcohol on the driver’s breath, the car won’t start.

The bill was headed to Gov. Dave Freudenthal’s desk for his approval. It was the only 1 of 3 DUI bills to survive the session.

Which state will be next?

The Wyoming House has given initial approval to a bill that would require some convicted drunken drivers to use in-car breathalyzers.

The Senate has already approved Senate Fill 88, the only surviving DUI bill in the Legislature this session. The House passed the bill on first reading Thursday.

The ignition interlock devices prevent cars from starting if a driver’s breath test detects any alcohol.

The bill would require the in-car devices for all DUI convicts with multiple offenses and for first-time offenders arrested with a blood alcohol content of .15 or more.

Wyoming has had a voluntary ignition interlock program in place since 2006. Supporters say that program has prepared the state with the necessary infrastructure to mandate interlocks.

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People caught driving drunk just once could be forced to install breath-alcohol monitoring devices in their cars, as Kentucky lawmakers consider toughening the state’s DUI laws. House lawmakers are considering proposals aimed at increasing the use of ignition locks, which require people to prove they’re not drunk by blowing into a device before starting their vehicles. Another plan would also decrease the current blood-alcohol level that triggers an aggravating factor in DUI sentencing. “The problem is we’ve got people that are driving 100 times before they even get caught drinking and driving,” state Rep. Dennis Keene, a Democrat from Wilder, said. “A lot of these people re-offend and this would curtail them from using their car while they’re out drinking and driving. There’s a tremendous call for this.”

Advocates have been pushing for tougher DUI laws across the country. Recently, that push has included widening the use of ignition locks for people with one conviction for driving drunk. Nationally, states have different levels of use for the breath-monitoring devices. They’re imposed on motorists ranging from people getting driving drunk their first time to hard-core multiple offenders.

This year five states – Alaska, Colorado, Illinois, Nebraska and Washington – began requiring first-time drunken drivers to install the gadgets on their cars. Repeat offenders in South Carolina, meanwhile, were also required to use the devices if they want to keep driving. Arizona, Louisiana and New Mexico have similar laws on the books.

Kentucky is one of 11 states currently considering such legislation, according to the Washington-based American Beverage Institute, which represents restaurants and retailers. Kentucky judges have already had the authority to impose the devices – which also require periodic tests while the vehicle is in use – on people who get caught driving drunk more than once.

Keene’s proposal would require it. And for more people.

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Indiana legislation aimed at cracking down on drunk drivers is finding national support. It includes installing a breath test device in cars.

Leading the charge is the national president of Mothers Against Drunk Drivers .

“Seventeen years ago I became a victim of drunk driving when my husband, Mike Dean age 32 pictured here with our daughter who was then 7-weeks-old was killed when our daughter was 8-months-old,” said Laura Dean-Mooney, MADD National President.

Dean-Mooney was in Indianapolis to show support for a piece of legislation that would require convicted drunk drivers to install alcohol ignition interlocks in their cars.

“Exploration and development of advanced technology that will detect if a driver has an illegal concentration above .08 and it will prevent a driver from actually operating the vehicle,” said Dean-Mooney.

Bill 1020 is making its way through the House. Representative Cleo Duncan of Batesville authored the original bill. It gave judges the option to mandate the use of the device, but this time Rep. Duncan is asking for mandatory installation for all DUI offenders.

“I had a request from one of my judges to see if we could possibly do legislation that would allow the use after the first offense,” said Rep. Cleo Duncan.

But not everyone agrees, the American Beverage Institute said the proposal ignores the root cause of today’s drunk driving problem, hard core alcohol abusers. It feels that first time offenders should not receive the same punishment as someone with prior convictions.

Right now, at least seven states require convicted drunk drivers to install alcohol ignition interlocks on their cars.

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The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration released a report in August 2008 that said the number of people killed from drunken driving accidents in 2007 had declined 3.7 percent from the previous year’s amount of fatalities.

Despite the decrease, however, 12,998 deaths were still reported in 2007 as a result of drunken driving. To put it in perspective, that is just over 35 people killed per day. This figure does not account for the numerous injuries and other accidents that occur as well and proves the importance in having strong, effective DUI laws.
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