A fix for drunken driving in Georgia

By Emily Clines

Last year in Georgia, 331 people died in drunken driving crashes. The toll of this 100 percent preventable crime on victims, survivors and their families is unimaginable. These crashes place an avoidable economic burden on survivors, but also on taxpayers and government. Drunken driving crashes cost each of us $500 a year, according to some estimates.

Unfortunately, Georgia lawmakers are not doing everything possible to make sure residents are protected by the most effective laws against drunken driving. Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) believes that Georgia laws relating to convicted drunken drivers must be made stronger.

In 2011, MADD will advocate for ignition interlocks for all convicted drunken drivers — including first-time offenders — with an illegal blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .08 or greater.

A common misconception is that first-time drunken drivers have made a one-time mistake. That is far from the reality. On average, first-time offenders have driven drunk 87 times before their first arrest.

Another misconception is that laws requiring interlocks for first-time offenders with an illegal BAC of .08 targets social drinkers who consume only a beer or a glass of wine. The reality is that to get to a .08 BAC, men must typically consume 5 or more drinks, and women must typically consume 4 or more drinks, in about 2 hours.

Ignition interlocks are breathalyzer devices that are wired into a vehicle’s ignition system. To start the vehicle, the convicted offender has to provide a sober breath sample by blowing into the interlock device — put simply, “blow before you go.” On average, interlocks cost offenders about $70 to $150 to install and about $60 to $80 per month for monitoring and calibration. This is less than $3 a day.

Interlock technology has come a long way since its initial development in the early 1970s. Today’s interlocks are highly accurate with strong anti-circumvention features by requiring rolling retests, and new features that provide for photo ID verification of the offender.

Interlocks have been proved to reduce repeat drunken driving offenses by 65 percent.

Why not just take away the driver’s license of a convicted drunken driver? This works in theory, but the reality is that up to 75 percent of drunken drivers will continue driving on a suspended license. An installed interlock protects the public by ensuring that the convicted drunken driver is operating a vehicle sober. A suspended license does not include this safeguard for the public.

According to a University of Minnesota survey, 88 percent of the general public is strongly in favor of interlocks for convicted drunken drivers. And as a result of interlock laws in other states, drunken driving crashes in Arizona decreased 46 percent, and drunken driving fatalities in New Mexico have decreased by nearly 30 percent.

In Georgia, interlocks are required for repeat offenders ordered on probation. However, not all offenders receive probation. Because these laws do not require first-time convicted drunken drivers to have an interlock, Georgians share the roadways with 45,598 people with three or more DUI convictions and 5,782 with five or more DUI convictions.

MADD would like to see ignition interlocks installed for all first-time convicted drunken drivers for a period of at least one continuous year and not only as a condition of probation.

Please tell your legislator that you are not satisfied with the current level of drunken driving in Georgia that resulted in 331 DUI deaths in 2009. Urge their support of interlocks for all convicted drunken drivers.

Emily Clines is the executive director of the Georgia Affiliate of Mothers Against Drunk Driving.