A California senator plans to introduce legislation today that is intended to curb drunken driving with vehicle ignition locks that won't allow a car to start if the driver doesn't pass a breath sample test.
An expansion of pilot programs in Alameda, Los Angeles, Sacramento and Tulare counties, the law is similar to measures passed in 24 other states, some of which have seen significant drops in DUI-related fatalities thanks to the new legislation, the San Jose Mercury News reported.
State Sen. Jerry Hill is scheduled to introduce the measure today at a news conference in Redwood City. The pilot program started in California in 2010 and requires vehicle ignition locks for five months for first-time DUI offenders and up to four years for repeat offenders.
The devices prevent the vehicle from starting until drivers have submitted a breath sample; additional samples are required once the car starts moving as well. The legislation would purportedly diminish incidents from second-time or repeat offenders, who make up a third of DUI convictions.
Hill's office points to similar programs in Arizona, Louisiana, New Mexico and Oregon, where DUI deaths have fallen by 35-43 percent.
"The bottom line is it saves lives," said Hill, as quoted by the Mercury News.
Ignition lock devices are recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Transportation Safety Board and AAA.
Collisions as a result of drunken driving kill more than 1,000 people in California each year and injure around 20,000.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Hill's best friend was killed because of a drunken driver 30 years ago.
"I felt the pain that families who lose loved ones to drunk drivers felt, and no one should have to go through that," he told the Chronicle. "The statistics show that if you are caught once, you have probably been drunk driving 80 times before that ... that's what prompted me to write this legislation, besides the memories of my friend."
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