From the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration:
Governor Larry Hogan’s regulations to allow more people the opportunity to participate in Maryland’s ignition interlock program go into effect today. The new regulations, proposed by the Governor in November, allow drunk drivers who register between a 0.08 and 0.14 blood alcohol concentration (BAC) a chance to opt-in to the program for one year without an administrative hearing. Prior to these regulations, only drivers who registered a 0.15 BAC or higher were allowed to opt-in. The ignition interlock is a device the size of a cell phone that prevents a car from starting when it detects a certain level of alcohol on the driver’s breath.
“Thanks to this common-sense expansion of ignition interlock, this program can start saving more lives today,” said Governor Hogan. “Too many innocent lives are stolen from us at the hands of drunk drivers, and our Administration will continue to take the necessary steps to end these senseless tragedies.”
Last year, Maryland’s ignition interlock program prevented nearly 4,000 trips where the driver’s BAC was greater than 0.08, which is the legal limit in Maryland. Today, the comprehensive program has 11,000 participants, the 6th highest number of ignition interlocks installed and the 9th highest usage rate in the nation.
“Ignition interlocks save lives by stopping drunks from driving,” said Transportation Secretary Pete K. Rahn.
Maryland’s program, which began in 1989, is nationally-recognized and is monitored by the Maryland Department of Transportation’s Motor Vehicle Administration (MVA). Today’s program is fully automated, which allows the MVA to efficiently monitor participants and take action against program violators. In addition to expanding the number of people who can opt-in, the new regulations bring Maryland in compliance with ignition interlock device standards set by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Over the last several years, on average, 171 people were killed each year in impaired driving crashes in Maryland. Sadly, one out of every three people killed in Maryland traffic crashes dies in an impaired driving crash. All of the fatalities were preventable. In Maryland, drivers with a BAC of 0.08 or higher are charged with Driving Under the Influence (DUI) and those with a BAC of 0.05 are charged with Driving While Impaired (DWI).
Some drunk will just drive their take home work vehicle to the bar.
You know, interlocks can’t be installed in company vehicles. LOLOL
You assume a company’s insurance provider would let them give a take-home vehicle to someone with a DUI.
I dont assume nothing. I know of lots of people who have company vehicles who are drunks.
Heck, boy, I know Foreman’s and site superintendent’s who wait until some guy is out of rehab to start a job because he’s the best operator, besides the fact of his drug and alcohol problems.
Go troll on Teachers man.
From the perspective of commercial insurance, NO carrier will insure someone with a recent DUI. NONE. “Recent” means in the past three years or longer depending on the insurer. All carriers pull DMV checks. Unlike personal auto insurance policies, commercial policies are different in that insurers will EXCLUDE anyone with a poor motor vehicle record. The employer or potential employer is sent a letter advising them of such exclusions.
That’s nice. It still doesn’t stop an employer from handing the keys to a known drunk.
There’s nothing stopping them from doing the act.
Retribution of insurance canceling is a risk. No one said it wasn’t.
I think it’s funny. Probably thousands of people who shouldn’t be driving on the road rather it’s personal, commercial, whatever.
Now if they would just invent an ignition interlock for cell phone users….
Oh yeah, KottaMann, that’s some real world stuff, dude.
Here, I’ll TYPE like YOU.
I worked at a shop about 15 years ago and there was an employee who lost his driving privilege FOR LIFE. OH MAN, you want to CALL it in? Here we have a guy driving to WORK with NO insurance and NO drivers license. OHHHHH MANNN YEAHHHH
How, exactly, is expanding the interlock program going to prevent drunk driving? It is just like lowering the limit to 0.08. It doesn’t stop the real problem drivers, it just gets social drinkers in trouble.
Just another money grab.
Just another elephant in the room being ignored with no solution.
I love that idiot who really typed about insurance carriers not insuring DUI. That’s really going to stop them!
Figure at any given moment during the day probably at least 100 people driving in Harford County with no insurance, and / or some other invalidated reason why they aren’t allowed the privilege.
Some asshole in Harford County wrecked their car into my property and some County property recently and kept going, never came back. I paid out of pocket (less than 100 dollars) for repairs and the county fixed their property.
This person fuhked their car up good, their passenger side mirror busted off and was laying with the rest of the damage..
Drugs? Alcohol? Both? Cell phone? Either way, the person is a piece of shit for not coming back.
Well, perhaps if you are drunk, you won’t be able to start your car, and not being able to start your car will make it much more difficult to drive it, therefore preventing someone who is drunk from driving. Also, it is much more difficult to kill someone with a car that is not moving, which will not only prevent a innocent people from being killed, but also prevent the inebriated driver from having to live with the guilt of having killed someone. So see? It’s win-win for all potentially involved.
You ever heard someone’s car horn beeping non stop as they drive down the road? Nope, that’s not a dealer recall.
They have a DUI interlock and add required to blow into it, at random, since they didn’t blow the horn starts beeping nonstop at a certain random test expired timestamp.
Once they turn off ignition power and restart, it will need a breathe sample to start again.
Why didn’t they blow into it? Probably because their breathe had alcohol in it.
Why don’t they put them under house arrest? Then they wouldn’t have to drive at all.
Great idea, but who would pay for the cuff? Or maybe just chain him to his favorite chair with enough chain to make it from the TV to the ‘frig to bathroom.