Legal Commentary

MADD Strikes Again

By TChris

The latest over-the-top "solution" to the problem of drunk driving -- brought to you by the zealots at Mothers Against Drunk Driving -- would dramatically increase the value of companies that manufacture and sell ignition interlock devices.

A new highway bill pending before Congress would instruct all 50 states to require every motorist convicted of driving under the influence equip their car with interlock systems that shut down a vehicle when a measured amount of alcohol is detected. ... There are already about 150,000 interlock system now in cars in the U.S., placed there for drivers with multiple DUI convictions. But the proposed mandate would expand the use of interlock systems exponentially; MADD's statistics indicate that nearly 1.5 million Americans are arrested annually on DUI charges, making it the number one crime for which American are arrested.

Only one-third of the drivers arrested for a drunk driving offense are repeat offenders. While the majority of first offenders will never be involved in an alcohol-related accident or arrested for a similar offense, MADD wants to burden them with an expensive gadget that will typically keep them from driving even if they're under the legal limit. The MADD plan has been adopted in some states, but MADD will settle for nothing less than federal legislation.

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If you are a responsible driver who won't be affected by this law, and your reaction is "Even a first offender has this coming," you may be surprised to learn that MADD's agenda will eventually affect you too.

Opponents of the MADD push for stricter laws warn that a federal interlock requirement would serve as a Trojan horse, opening the way for even more sophisticated interlock technology that would be required on every car sold in the U.S., according to Sarah Longwell, managing director of the American Beverage Institute, which lobbies on behalf of taverns and restaurants. "If you go to the ballgame and happen to have a beer you wouldn't be able drive home," she says. ...

Nissan is now testing various systems that don't even require a breathalyzer to detect drinking. One system uses a tiny camera to observe facial expressions, another system being tested checks blood alcohol level though sensors when the driver grasps the shift control and a third system uses the car's internal computer to calculate if a motorists is steering erratically.

Wouldn't you be thrilled to have a tiny camera in your car, trying to decipher your facial expressions to decide whether you ought to be driving? MADD's president, Chuck Hurley (who likely isn't a mother at all), "doesn't deny he would like to see such systems put into service." Since the technology to fulfill that dream might not be available for another decade, he has to settle for proposed legislation that would blackmail states into adopting his plan to force first offenders to install ignition interlocks. States that refuse would be denied federal highway funds. That approach succeeded in forcing states to adopt 0.08 as the "legal limit," and will probably be equally effective in coercing adoption of the new interlock law. Congress is likely to go along with MADD's latest scheme to make driving more difficult because no politician wants to risk the wrath of MADD by being labeled "soft on drunk driving".

Full post as published by TalkLeft on July 01, 2009 (boomark / email).