Current interlock technology

New Mexico’s Drop in Fatalities

Interlock advocates would have the public believe that the drop in New Mexico’s fatalities is due to the interlock mandate that went into effect on September 17, 2005.[1]

But, prior to the 2005 interlock mandate, drunk driving fatalities in New Mexico had been steadily decreasing for 20 years. NHTSA reported that between 1982 and 2001 there was a 71 percent drop in fatal traffic accidents involving alcohol.[2]

Since Gov. Bill Richardson took office in 2003 (two years prior to the interlock mandate), his administration has reduced drunk driving fatalities through many different efforts including: appointing a DWI czar, increasing and intensifying police presence, creating a “DrunkBuster” hot line, cracking down on underage drinking, building a DWI Victims’ Memorial, changing the “six month rule” to allow for a longer period of time for hearing DWI cases, and conducting a ubiquitous anti-DWI advertising campaign.

In fact, state DWI Czar Rachel O'Connor claims that New Mexico has “built the most aggressive approach to fighting drunk driving in state history.”[3] Clearly, that approach includes much more than an interlock mandate.

In fact, Stephen Prisoc, Chief Information Officer for New Mexico’s Administrative Office of the Courts says other factors could explain a rise or fall in deaths in any given year. “In all states, as our older automobiles on the highways have been replaced with newer cars with better safety features, of course those head-on crashes that often come with DWIs will result in fewer fatalities.”[4]

Those other factors include mandatory airbags (which the federal government began requiring in all new cars in 1999), increased seat belt use (New Mexico has one of the highest rates of seatbelt use in the country[5]), and higher gas prices.

The claim that the interlock mandate alone drastically reduced fatalities is not only misleading, but also dishonest.

What’s happening in New Mexico now? Only 32% of offenders actually install an interlock. Learn more.

  1. “First Offenders in NM” presentation by Dick Roth, 23 Oct. 2006, page 15 (PowerPoint file)
  2. “Fatal DWI accidents drop in N.M. over 20 years” by SUE MAJOR HOLMES, Associated Press, 18 Dec. 2002
  3. Governor Richardson Press Release, 24 Feb. 2009 PDF
  4. Santa Fe Reporter, 13 May 2009
  5. NHTSA Report: Seat Belt Use in 2008—Use Rates in the States and Territories, April 2009 PDF