Intoxicated drivers face high-tech lockouts

Last month, Washington became the fifth state — joining Arizona, Illinois, Louisiana and New Mexico — to require alcohol-ignition interlocks for anyone convicted of drunken driving. Last week, the Nebraska Legislature approved such a bill 43-0. California, Colorado and Hawaii are considering interlocks for first offenders. In all, 46 states allow interlocks in some cases

Alcohol-ignition interlocks are wired into a vehicle's engine. The driver blows into the device before starting the vehicle; if it detects a certain blood-alcohol content, or BAC, the engine won't start. Once the car starts, the driver must blow into the device at random intervals to keep the vehicle running.

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OK I get this..........Trying to keep our roads safer, But don't you find it odd that these devices have to be blown into randomly in order for the car to remain running??? I mean how safe can that be?

Wouldn't that in itself cause a pretty big problem in driving?

DING DING DING........BLOW

What if your crusing down the HWY at 70mph and you can't get to the tube in time? Your car just dead stops or something?

Can you say road hazzard?

Originally posted by freedomataprice
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OK I get this..........Trying to keep our roads safer, But don't you find it odd that these devices have to be blown into randomly in order for the car to remain running??? I mean how safe can that be?

I find that very safe. It stops them from having someone else start their car and it stops them from drinking after the car is already started.

What if your crusing down the HWY at 70mph and you can't get to the tube in time? Your car just dead stops or something?

Can you say road hazzard?

Thats not how it works. you have to blow once every 20 minutes or so. That means you have to give a reading within 20 minutes f the last one. If you don't you get a 30 second audible countdown to your car powering down. If you can't find 5 seconds to blow in a tube every 20 minutes while driving than you shouldn't be driving.Your car does not simply shut off at 70 mph if you dont blow.

Also, what's a worse road hazard, a drunk mans car slowing to a halt on the side of the road, or a drunk mans car slamming to halt in a minivan full of kids?



[edit on 15-4-2008 by Rackham]

I used to work with an older fellow (mid 60s) who had an interlock on his pick-up truck. He said that he would be sitting at a stoplight and all of the sudden the alarm would sound, telling him that he had to blow in the tube. The thing is, you don't just blow in to it- you have to maintain a steady stream of air at a pressure level that is desired by the system.
Say you are sitting at a 5-point intersection with a very long light. Let's also say that it's pretty early in the morning and still dark out, you haven't had your coffee yet, you've been smoking since you were a teenager, and you have crippling arthritis. Now, that's a good description of the fellow whom I used to work with. One particular morning, he couldn't get the steady stream of air that the machine required and his car shut off right there in the busiest intersection of the county. And it doesn't just let you restart it either. There's something like a thirty minute cool-down period.
That was an example of the machine working properly. That was the third machine that was on his truck, as the first two were defective and did just shut his car off while he was driving it. He ended up in a ditch one of those times because the steering locked and the power brakes were suddenly no longer powered. From what he heard from the mechanics who installed the interlocks and from other folks in the waiting areas getting the same thing done to their cars, mechanical failure of these devices is fairly common.

I'm all for keeping drunk drivers off of the roads, and you have to have several DUIs under your belt before an interlock is subscribed to you, but these things are far from infallible.