Editorial: Deterring drunken driving

Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2006 | 7:16 a.m.

As the holiday season launches into full swing, public safety officials and advocates are calling for the installation of alcohol-detecting devices in the motor vehicles of people who have been convicted of driving while intoxicated.

Breath-test interlock devices will not allow a car to start until the driver blows into an instrument that measures the level of alcohol in the breath. If the alcohol concentration is above a preset level, the vehicle will not start.

New Mexico, which has had problems with chronic drunken driving, started using the devices last year, the Washington Post reports. Mothers Against Drunk Driving - which has garnered support from the U.S. Transportation Department and the Distilled Spirits Council, among others - is calling for laws in the 49 other states that would require installation of the devices after a first DUI conviction.

When used with other tactics, such as increasing the number of sobriety checkpoints, the devices helped New Mexico record an 11 percent drop in alcohol-related fatalities, officials said.

We agree with a comprehensive approach that includes the use of such technology. And mandatory installation makes sense as a punishment for someone convicted of causing a crash that killed or injured others - even on a first offense.

But installing these devices in the cars of people who did not cause accidents and who had never before been convicted - and may have been cited only because they happened to drive through a checkpoint - doesn't seem fair. Once cited, most people will never again drive intoxicated.

But those repeat offenders who obviously did not learn, deserve to pay for the latest in interlock devices in every car they buy, lease or rent for the rest of their lives.