More States Passing Ignition Interlock Laws to Prevent Drunk Driving

 While some countries are tougher on drunk-driving charges than the United States, the use and development of ignition interlock devices—those that measure a driver’s blood alcohol content through a breath test before the car is able to start—show that progress is being made toward cracking down on people who get behind the wheel when they shouldn’t.

The New York Times’ Tanya Mohn writes that this year, Arkansas, Hawaii, and Utah passed laws that make ignition interlocks mandatory in cars for convicted drunken drivers—even if it’s the first offense. Other states that have passed this law are Alaska, Arizona, Illinois, Louisiana, Nebraska, New Mexico, and Washington.

While opponents of interlocks cite privacy issues and concerns that some devices might be overly sensitive, a survey released this month by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety showed that about two out of three respondents were in favor of putting reliable alcohol detection systems into all cars, not just into the cars of offenders.

Last year, a public-private partnership began to research, develop, and test the technology that detects alcohol in a driver’s system. The systems are intended to be installed in all cars, not just in those driven by people who have been convicted of driving under the influence. The Driver Alcohol Detection System for Safety Program is a cooperative agreement between the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Automotive Coalition for Traffic Safety, and is expected to cost $10 million.

Susan Ferguson, the program manager, said the technology being developed included analysis of air samples in the passenger compartment that measures alcohol in the driver’s breath and tissue spectroscopy, a touch-based system that can measure alcohol content by assessing light absorption at a particular wavelength based on measurements of light reflected from the skin.

Three companies based in the United States, Canada, and Sweden are developing the prototypes that are expected to be ready for testing next summer, Dr. Ferguson said. In-vehicle testing is expected by February 2013. The new detection systems are being designed to work quickly, accurately, and unobtrusively, she said, noting that the ones in use now are considered intrusive and not acceptable for widespread use. “Certainly within 10 years, the technology will be vehicle-ready, if not sooner.”

A report by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety states that while about 180,000 interlocks are in use nationwide and successfully reduce the risk that previous offenders will commit repeat violations, most fatal alcohol-related crashes involved drivers who hadn’t had a conviction in the previous three years. If interlocks had been in all vehicles, according to estimates in the report, more than 8,000 lives could have been saved last year.

“The main reason people drive drunk is because they can,” said Chuck Hurley, chief executive of Mothers Against Drunk Driving. “The only way to eliminate drunk driving is to have technology in all vehicles so no one can drive drunk.”