When Illinois started using a device in 1994 that measures breath alcohol before allowing the car to start for repeatedly impaired drivers, some offenders quickly tried to thwart it by using an air machine in their back seat, program administrator Susan McKinney said.
But the technology has improved immensely in the past 14 years, McKinney said, and Illinois is expanding its use of the breath alcohol ignition interlock device to first-time defendants.
Activists fighting drunken driving are hailing the new law, which starts Jan. 1, as another tool to discourage the 20 percent or so of first-time DUI defendants who typically are charged again.
“The whole point is to stop people from driving impaired,” McKinney said. “The program will work for people who enter it.”
But at least one local defense attorney figures that the added cost will put a premium on winning the license-suspension hearings, but not necessarily on safer driving.
Drivers whose licenses are suspended after they are charged with their first drunken-driving offense or after they refuse a Breathalyzer or other testing can drive after the first month of their suspension with the ignition interlock device.
This replaces the judicial driving permit, which allowed defendants to drive to and from work while their licenses were suspended.
How it works
The driver blows into the device, which allows the car to start if his or her blood-alcohol level is less than 0.05 percent. Then the machine asks for additional tests every five to 15 minutes.
“If I blow again and I have a positive reading, the machine is going to tell me to pull over and turn the car off,” McKinney said. “If I don’t, my lights are going to start flashing and my horn is going to start going off.”
Different models include different safeguards against tampering, such as measuring the temperature of the air entering the device and requiring the user to both blow and suck their breath in and out of the device.
If an impaired driver asks a friend to blow into the device, both the driver and the friend could be charged with Class A misdemeanors, McKinney said.
A defendant whose license with a suspended who drives a car without the device could be charged with a Class 4 felony, although they might be eligible for a work exemption if driving an employer-owned car during work hours.
Secretary of State Jesse White worked with Mothers Against Drunk Driving to craft the legislation, which also doubled the suspension period to a year for those who refuse testing when pulled over on suspicion of driving impaired. If they failed testing, their licenses will be suspended for six months, rather than three, starting Jan. 1.
Costs and benefits of technology
The device tackles the human error involved in getting behind the wheel drunk, said David Malham, a victim advocate and clinical social worker with MADD’s Illinois chapter.
“Whether the person is responsible, irresponsible, alcoholic or teetotalling, it doesn’t matter what the nature of their personality is,” Malham said. “It’s the science. If their breath registers above 0.05, the car ain’t starting.”
But local defense attorney Ed Donahue questioned the practicality of using the device, especially for first-time defendants who have yet to be criminally convicted. He said the bracelets that measure alcohol content through the skin would be more discreet.
“How is a businessman going to take associates out to dinner with [an ignition interlock device] in his car?” Donahue said. “Whereas a SCRAM [secure continuous remote alcohol monitor] bracelet, it allows the defendant to maintain some dignity.”
The number of Illinois drivers using the ignition interlock device likely will balloon. The program monitors about 3,000 repeat offenders, but according to the Alliance Against Intoxicated Motorists, more than 41,500 drivers are charged with their first DUI in Illinois each year.
Using the device for a year will cost at least $1,500, including installation and a monthly monitoring fee, Donahue said. That’s on top of the $1,500 to $2,500 that a defendant likely will pay a defense attorney to handle his or her criminal case.
“It makes drinking and driving a real expensive proposition,” Donahue said. “As to a deterrent, I’m not sure drinking and driving and rational thought often go together.”
License suspension
If you are charged with driving under the influence or refuse a Breathalyzer or other testing when pulled over:
• Your license will be suspended for 46 days after your arrest.
• You have up to 90 days after the arrest to file a petition challenging the suspension. At a hearing, you can argue that the officer didn’t have a reason to pull you over or to believe you were under the influence, that the officer didn’t properly read you the warning to motorists, or that there was something wrong with the Breathalyzer.
• Starting Jan. 1, your license will be suspended for 12 months if you refuse testing, and for six months if you take the test and fail.
• If your license is suspended, you can drive using a breath alcohol ignition interlock device after 30 days if you are given the proper permit.
• Personnel for the secretary of state will check in on you and your device every 60 days. Violations could lead to three-month permit extensions or losing driving privileges altogether.
