HUNTSVILLE, AL - Stricter DUI laws could soon mean safer roads in Alabama. The state legislature has passed a bill that requires some convicted drunk drivers to install ignition interlocks on their vehicles.
The ignition interlock is a breathalyzer system that's installed inside a vehicle. If the device detects alcohol, it prevents the vehicle from starting. Those who have been fighting for the bill's passage say they couldn't be happier.
For Glenda Richardson, every day is a fight to prevent drunk driving fatalities. Her husband and two children were killed by a drunk driver. Richardson explains, "My family was leaving on a vacation, and we were hit at Centerville, TN. I awoke 5 days later in Vanderbilt Hospital's Intensive Care Unit. When MADD was organized in Huntsville, I was at the first meeting and offered my services, especially to work with victims of drunk driving."
Richardson feels the passage of the ignition interlock bill will significantly curb fatalities, since so many drunk driving accidents are caused by repeat offenders: "I think this is a major step. We have some good laws, if they are observed, and I think this law will really be beneficial to our state."
According to the bill, repeat offenders, as well as 70% of first offenders, will be sentenced to use the ignition interlock device for one to two years after they're convicted.
But not everyone agrees it will work.
DUI Defense Attorney Phillip Price explains, “Data for repeat offenders says that those that will repeat don't do so within the first two years of having committed the crime, by far. So what we're doing is putting a device on that sounds politically correct."
Price also feels the device is too costly: "A $350 installation fee, and $75 a month that the individual pays. For the monthly fee, 40% [goes] to the Interlock fund, 25% to the court of jurisdiction, 20% to the Department of Public Safety, and 15% to the District Attorney of the jurisdiction."
Despite the criticisms, Richardson sees the passage of this bill as a service to her deceased family members by preventing others from having to endure the same hardship. She says, “All drunk driving crashes are preventable, and if we just do what we know to do and drive responsibly, we won't have any deaths or injuries because of this."
Alabama is the 50th state in the country to pass ignition interlock legislation. The bill is currently sitting on the governor's desk. He's expected to sign it into law within the next week.
