Get ready for interlocks, Illinois!
Editor’s comment: Understanding the current Democratic administration is supposed to be more “liberal” than the other side of the force; we are now going to be facing what we feel are draconian measures to stop drunk drivers in Illinois. As a preliminary note from all of us at KC&A, we don’t want anyone killed by a drunk driver, ever. Some of our friends have suffered tragic losses at the hands of drunk drivers and we are sensitive to their feelings and concerns.
Beginning on January 1, 2008, the interlock new measure, one of the strictest in the nation, is aimed at any offender, including first-time offenders convicted of driving under the influence. Those convicted will have 14 days to find the money and get a breath-alcohol ignition-interlock device installed in their vehicle. With the device, if a driver has blood-alcohol content above 0.024, the engine won’t start or keep running.
You have to love/hate the painful cost–the devices cost the driver $80 for installation and about $80 a month to rent. The Secretary of State will charge another $30 a month to monitor drivers and administer the program. We truly feel Illinois drivers will be financially pressured; you can and should be able to simply buy the equipment at a retail cost of about $700. Instead the suppliers are making you rent them, pay the full purchase price to them as rent and then give them their equipment back when you are done! We are confident low-income folks in this state are simply going to risk long prison terms when they have to drive because they aren’t going to be able to pay such costs to drive.
What is problematic about mandating interlocks for low-blood alcohol content first offenders?
Most criminal statutes follow one fundamental principle: “The punishment should fit the crime.” Accordingly, people driving at one sip over the limit shouldn’t be punished with the same severity and expense as a high-blood-alcohol, repeat offender for whom interlocks have traditionally been reserved. In context with other traffic violations, drivers at 0.08 BAC (the nationally recognized per se level for arrest) are less impaired than those talking on a hands-free phone, according to several studies, including one from the New England Journal of Medicine.
Interlocks were intended for those criminals who Mothers Against Drunk Driving (or MADD) has called a “hardcore of alcoholics who do not respond to public appeal.” While it takes as little as two glasses of wine for a 120 lb woman to reach the 0.08 limit, most drunk drivers involved in fatal crashes have blood-alcohol levels in excess of .19—the equivalent of seven drinks for an average man. Proposals to mandate ignition interlocks for all offenders would inappropriately make the driver one sip over the limit and the high-blood-alcohol repeat drunk drivers equal in the eyes of the law. The system currently used by most states, which MADD has now replaced in Illinois is called “graduated penalties.” This method properly matches the severity of the punishment with the severity of the crime. You would not punish someone driving 5 mph over the speed limit the same way you would someone going 25 mph over the limit. Please note Illinois will now punish someone driving at 0.08 BAC with the same sentence reserved for someone driving at 0.20 BAC.
Interlocks will be a major new industry in this state–as many as 40,000 offenders a year could be affected by the new law, which the Democrat-driven Illinois General Assembly unanimously passed and the misguided Governor signed in 2007. One of our staff members did the math and projects the annual cost to Illinoisans at $25 million. The take-effect date was delayed so Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White could get ready to enforce it. Please note statistics indicate drunk-driving has spiraled down and is not on the increase–legislative sponsors listened to MADD who complain alcohol-related crashes and arrests had “stopped declining” in recent years.
The devices replace judicial driving permits, which judges issued to those convicted of drunken driving who needed to use a car to get to work or school. Now first-time offenders still will lose their license for 30 days, but will be allowed back on the road if they agree to have the devices installed in their vehicles. We hope some of our clients and friends whose licenses are suspended may be able to avail themselves of this new system, despite its high cost.
Drivers who register a 0.08 or higher blood-alcohol level at the time of their arrest will be required to drive with the monitoring devices for five months. Drivers who refuse alcohol testing but are convicted must use the devices for 11 months. The interlock devices are certain to drive the users to distraction; they require drivers to be tested periodically even while the car is running! Drivers will have to blow into the device again within the first 5 to 15 minutes of a trip, then at least twice every hour. If alcohol is then detected, the device instructs the driver to pull over to side of road and the engine is stopped. A report goes to the Secretary of State’s office for review and additional punishment may follow.
Please also note drunk drivers who avoid the interlock (or simply don’t have the money for this expensive equipment) and drive are facing not one, not two but three years in prison. Again, we consider this sort of life-changing sentencing to be completely out of control, as are most things from the current legislature. We can hardly wait for the first lawsuit to follow from the driver who hits someone while they are distracted while blowing into the interlock device to avoid the car shutting off. Please also note it is impossible for the interlock device to avoid a scenario where a drunk brings another sober person with to blow into the interlock for them.
Whatever happens, please understand Illinois is not going to tolerate drunks who get behind a wheel and endanger all of us. The cost of getting stopped for drunk driving is wildly expensive, even if you beat the rap. The best way to avoid the whole drunk driving mess is to not drive drunk and be able to prove you are not impaired. There are a variety of methods to do so, one of which is to beat them to the punch and buy and install an interlock in your car before you get stopped by a police officer. Several automakers are considering optional equipment to allow sober drivers to readily demonstrate they are not impaired. If you want further thoughts on how to avoid this whole mess, send a reply. We also ask for your thoughts and comments.
