Proof of no alcohol in the system before a DUI offender can start the car is a great idea, except for the fact that alcoholics, ingenious manipulators that they are, will likely find ways to circumvent the system.
DUI offenders must test breath before driving, but will it work?
Under a pilot program set to begin in July in Los Angeles County and three other California counties, motorists convicted of DUI will be required to install an ignition-interlock device that will prevent vehicles from starting if a BAL greater than .03 percent is detected after drivers blow into a tube connected to the machine. It’s an interesting idea, but recall that addicts are brilliant in getting around obstacles, especially those designed to prevent them from using. There are three ways I can think of to placate the machine so the car starts, and if I can think of three any alcoholic worth his vodka can probably think of ten more. One, bring along a friend, who may be on something other than booze. Two, the DUI offender keeps a low BAL and supplements with or substitutes other drugs. Three, drink after starting the car, which can be done via the “paper bag” method or the “fill the windshield wiper compartment with vodka and jimmy a hose through the dashboard, which can be sucked on with the wipers on” method. So, while I’m not averse to trying this method of reducing DUIs, I question whether it will stem DUI repeats by any appreciable level. May I be proven wrong.
A far more effective method of stopping DUIs is to prevent the offender from drinking—ever. Society has a right and, in fact, an obligation to stop a person from using who has proven his or her inability to use safely. There is no perfect method, as proven last month by Lindsay Lohan’s re-arrest for violating parole with an ankle bracelet, which doesn’t test for other drugs. Ankle bracelets, which detect practically any level of alcohol in the system, should be supplemented with regular and random blood and urine tests for other drugs for at least a period of months if not years after release and as a condition of parole. We will not only greatly reduce DUIs, but also cases of domestic violence and all manner of other criminal behaviors.