Let's install alcohol-detection devices on all new vehicles
Tuesday, September 7, 2010 at 08:26AM 
The number of vehicles installed with devices that prevent a driver from starting the ignition if he's been drinking will double in Pennsylvania this year.
That, however, will only put the number at 6,000, all with restricted licenses due to DUI convictions. Considering that the devices are pretty reliable in keeping drunks off the road, why not expand the program?
Make the devices mandatory on all new vehicles sold.
Sure, the contraptions can cost around $1,000, but that could come down if they were mass-produced. Enforcement sounds like a state issue, although compliance can be dictated by threat of withholding federal highway funds, just as states are coerced now to stick to a maximum speed limit. (the Right will, of course, scream "REGULATION!!!" Let them.)
No, not every driver sits behind the wheel drunk, and most would never consider it. So why make them pay? Well, 16,900 drivers were busted by state police in 2009, and that was the most ever. Meanwhile, 141 people died as a result of alcohol-related crashes, and another 4,625 were injured. Cutting corners is no consolation if you're one of the victims. The benefit for all, besides safety, would be lower insurance rates since the number of alcohol-related would precipitously drop.
The devices work by requiring motorists on restricted licenses to blow into a tube that detects the presence of alcohol. If alcohol is detected, the vehicle will not start and the driver must wait five minutes before trying again.
A second failed attempt will result in a 30-minute lockout, and a third failed attempt will result in a recall of the device, meaning it must be taken to a service center within five days to have it reset, at an average cost of $75.
Last year, the devices recorded a total of 47,493 failed attempts to start a vehicle.
The cabbies union should embrace the legislation.
Reader Comments (3)
Al:
Regulation, schmegulation.....Get these on all new cars, immediately...I've had two friends in my lifetime killed because of drunk drivers. This is the type of thing where I'm OK with government intervening...
BIG BROTHER AT WORK! WONDERING IF ONE OF RENDELL'S
RELATIVES OWN THE COMPANY THAT MAKES THESE DEVICES?
...THEN WE HAVE THE HOME FIRE SPRINKLER BILL ....
It's too bad that there's not a device that would shut off a car's engine if a dipshit uses a cell phone while driving.