http://www.cyberdriveillinois....nts/BAIID/baiid.html



do they stop people from driving drunk?

are they any good for anything?
what ( if anything ) are they good for?

Yes, the car won't start if they blow over the legal limit into the device. It helps keep career alcoholics from driving.

It only keeps alcoholics from driving vehicles equipped with such devices. My brother got a DUI and had to put it on his POV but not his wife's car or his work truck. I think that any vehicle the person has access to should be included. There are too many idiots on the road as it is, we don't need drunken idiots running around too.

I think there is some data out there saying they reduce recidivism, but I can't quote it

They’ll keep your vehicle from being operated. The other factor is a defendant is generally ordered to have them installed on any vehicle he/she operates not just ones they own. If they disobey the court’s order, they get a new charge and face the possibility of probation being revoked on the earlier charge. It’s just one tool of many to help the defendant and protect society.

I knew a guy who was a first time offender. His attorney worked out a great deal for him with the judge, but his probationary period was pretty strict.

He carried a hand held unit that would randomly sound an alarm. He then had a few minutes to blow into the device. While doing so it took his photo and sent that along with the results back to a monitoring agency.

It's exactly what he needed.

quote:

Originally posted by jimmy123x:
Yes, the car won't start if they blow over the legal limit into the device. It helps keep career alcoholics from driving.

Yeah, ummm, not true for the vast majority of the devices out there.

The bulk of them interlock at any reading above .02, which is well below the legal limit in most locales. But yes, it does keep "career" drunks from driving a particular vehicle.

As I understand it, there are some trucking companies that use them as a "voluntary" reduction to drunk driving to reduce insurance costs as well.

I've seen them be a positive to young folks that screwed up. Help them keep a way to get back and forth to work to keep a job.

It is used along with other probation restrictions in Oregon. A first time offender get's to drive to work with a device in there car. Ticket and no driving if caught driving without the device, I believe. It's a pain in the ass and a needed wake up call for many. From what I have seen it shoves the offender on the strait and narrow, seems to work. There are those that will continue to break the law, they just need a jail cell to keep from getting another DUI, nothing else works for them. But for the majority of DUI first time offenders I believe it helps.

I used to install them for the state of Ohio back in the late 90s. The amount of hair-brained schemes that I would hear the drunks come up with was laughable. "I'll just have someone else blow into it", etc. Even had a few guys try to bribe me. If you failed the rolling random test, it would definitely shut your car down whilst moving!

The ones in Colorado take a picture of the person who blows into the device.

quote:

Originally posted by a1abdj:
I knew a guy who was a first time offender. His attorney worked out a great deal for him with the judge, but his probationary period was pretty strict.

He carried a hand held unit that would randomly sound an alarm. He then had a few minutes to blow into the device. While doing so it took his photo and sent that along with the results back to a monitoring agency.

It's exactly what he needed.

^^^^^^^^^
The unit that does this which I’m familiar with is the Soberlink SL2. It is a great tool but it doesn’t stop driving like an interlock device.

I've known exactly three people who had one of those installed by court order, so my sample size is quite small.

But in all three cases I saw it contribute to successfully limiting their driving, substantially, and have a generally positive effect by keeping them off the roads as well as indirectly help them get their shit together in a broad sense because each instance lasted months.

They were average people in all three cases, ones who went through a bad/rough phase rather than hardheaded notorious fuckups. Also, each had parents or significant others that watched them hawkishky throughout, and wouldn't let them borrow other vehicles.

All in all, in these three cases. I'd say it was good and worked, but it was definitely the result of several factors - half or more of which were outside the device itself or the courts. And without outside help, I can't say whether it would have any positive effect at all.

ymmv

It is effective with an early stage alcoholic who also participates in some sort of treatment program. It is not a simple fix for addiction. Professionals often are subject to five years of random alcohol/drug tests to ensure compliance. DOT regulations require random alcohol and drug testing to maintain a CDL. If you test positive you must then be evaluated and likely are subject to five years of alcohol/drug testing, after completed a treatment program.

They stopped Kevin A Landau, the world's worst lawyer, from every being able to have a driver's license again...

www.kevinalandau.com

quote:

Originally posted by a1abdj:
I knew a guy who was a first time offender. His attorney worked out a great deal for him with the judge, but his probationary period was pretty strict.

He carried a hand held unit that would randomly sound an alarm. He then had a few minutes to blow into the device. While doing so it took his photo and sent that along with the results back to a monitoring agency.

It's exactly what he needed.

This is what I need for sugar.

quote:

Originally posted by mutedblade:
It only keeps alcoholics from driving vehicles equipped with such devices. My brother got a DUI and had to put it on his POV but not his wife's car or his work truck. I think that any vehicle the person has access to should be included. There are too many idiots on the road as it is, we don't need drunken idiots running around too.

In Iowa, if you're required to have an ignition interlock device, you're required to have it anytime you're driving. So, if you get it in your own car, but start driving your wife's, it better have one, too.

Why is it assumed that anyone who gets a DWI is an alcoholic?

quote:

Originally posted by a1abdj:
I knew a guy who was a first time offender. His attorney worked out a great deal for him with the judge, but his probationary period was pretty strict.

He carried a hand held unit that would randomly sound an alarm. He then had a few minutes to blow into the device. While doing so it took his photo and sent that along with the results back to a monitoring agency.

It's exactly what he needed.

I like that!first offense, one year sober. Second, jail.

A brother-in-law of mine had several DUIs. One was installed on his car.

He had his 4-5 year old daughter blow into it for him...