Interlock Facts

WASHINGTON – Today the American Beverage Institute (ABI), which represents over 700 California restaurants, sent a letter to Governor Schwarzenegger urging him to veto AB91 – an ignition interlock pilot program.

Below is an excerpt from the letter:

Mandating ignition interlocks for low-BAC (blood alcohol concentration), first-time DUI offenders is the wrong approach. The focus of California’s drunk driving legislation should be on the high-BAC and repeat offenders who cause the vast majority of alcohol-related driving fatalities in the state.

The average BAC of drunk drivers involved in fatal accidents in California is .19% BAC—more than twice the state’s legal limit of .08%. Studies have shown that drivers are more dangerous talking on a hands-free cell phone than they are driving at .08%. And yet that is the level at which this bill would mandate an ignition interlock device—which, due to their fallibility and intrusiveness, have heretofore been reserved for hard-core offenders.

In addition to targeting the wrong offenders, this mandate will cost California millions of dollars to enforce. Even as a pilot program that will only apply to four counties, the program would cost $22.5 million per year to run. This cost is based on a conservative estimate made by the American Probation and Parole Association (APPA) of $3 per day to monitor each offender.

For those who choose to drive while extremely intoxicated and those who repeatedly flout the law, ignition interlock technology is an effective and proper law enforcement response. But we shouldn’t punish someone who has one sip of wine over the limit the same way we punish hard core alcoholics. For these reasons, we strongly urge you to veto the bill.

These are all reasons why 27 states currently require interlocks for high-BAC and repeat-offenders, while just 11 target low-BAC, first-time offenders.

Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) has been claiming that studies show that interlock mandates reduce drunk driving recidivism by over 60 percent, but there are numerous weak correlations in that study and deliberate omissions in MADD’s use of that statistic.

“ABI encourages Governor Schwarzenegger to learn the truth about MADD’s bad stats on our website: InterlockFacts.com,” said ABI Managing Director Sarah Longwell.