District residents convicted of drunken driving for the first time might soon be able to restore their driving privileges faster by installing ignition interlock systems on their vehicles.
The devices require a driver to provide a breath sample with a blood-alcohol level below 0.025 percent (the DUI threshold in the city is 0.08) before a vehicle will start. Some 250,000 of the devices are in use across the country, and studies show they have reduced repeat conviction rates by up to 90 percent.
The District debuted an ignition interlock program in 2010, allowing select repeat offenders to reduce the length of their license revocation periods if they installed the technology.
Lucinda Babers, the director of the D.C. Department of Motor Vehicles, told a council committee Wednesday that about 50 residents become eligible for the program each month, but that only one has ever enrolled.
Babers said the technology’s cost, which the driver pays, is up to $150 per month per vehicle, which may have prompted some motorists to decline the option.
Under the proposal lawmakers are considering, the program would expand to allow first-time offenders to enroll, potentially opening up the opportunity to 150 people monthly.
Paul Pascal, who represents the D.C. Association of Beverage Alcohol Wholesalers, worried about the accuracy of the machines.
“The accuracy of the interlock systems should be a paramount issue in the District of Columbia,” Pascal said.
But Jack Dalton, who works for device manufacturer LifeSafer, said Pascal’s worries were overblown.
“We don’t hear about those,” Dalton said. “We’ve only heard of success by these devices used in other states.”
Maryland and Virginia also have ignition interlock programs. In Maryland, individual courts can order defendants to install the technology in their vehicles. Virginia is set to stage a major expansion of its ignition interlock program in July, when the commonwealth will begin enforcing a mandate that all first-time offenders add the technology to their vehicles.SClB[email protected]
