Drunk Driving DUI Law

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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