A recent television commercial features a handsome young man who is doing really well at his job. After receiving promotion after promotion for his good work, the television commercial goes on to move into a new upscale condominium, buy a new car, and travel to exciting places in the world. The next quick snapshots go on to show this successful young man enjoying evenings out on the town, weekends at local sporting events, and early mornings at a well equipped health club.
The next part of the commercial shows the young man leaving a party with a woman who he just met and jumping in a car. Even though the driver had several drinks just before leaving, he is still jangling his keys getting ready to take his new lady home to his new and impressive apartment. Just a few blocks after leaving, however, he is pulled over by a police officer who has noticed his erratic driving behavior. That part of the commercial ends with the woman left alone on the curb calling a friend while the handsome and successful young executive rides away in the back seat of the squad car.
Numbers fly across the screen totaling up the court costs and fees, the lawyer and required rehab expenses, and the missed bonuses and salary at a job that he has been fired from. In those few blocks, the driver has lost most of what he had worked so hard to achieve.
A redemptive scenario at the end of the commercial goes on to show the same couple stopping just before they get in the car and calling a cab instead.
What if, however, you are the person who may never show enough restraint to call that cab? What if you are the driver who thinks that driving buzzed is safe? Might you too lose much of what you have earned to the ramifications of a drunk driving conviction?
Ignition Interlock Devices Can Force Drivers to Make the Right Decision
In today’s battle between individual rights and the safety of others, ignition interlock devices are an available technology that could be saving more lives every single day. Installed in the cars of the youngest drivers or of drivers who have already been convicted of a drunk driving offense, ignition interlock devices prevent drivers from operating a motor vehicle when their blood alcohol level is unsafe for driving. a car breathalyzer is attached to the ignition or to the keys and requires that the driver breath into it before they are allowed to start the vehicle.
Although some people see ignition interlock devices as an infringement on personal rights, a growing number of people see them as a way to keep America’s highways safe from drunk drivers. Currently, there are only 150,000 interlock systems in cars in the U.S. In almost all cases these have been placed there for drivers who have multiple DUI convictions. What if, however, there was a way to install these for all drivers?
Some experts think that if this were the case, America could significantly reduce the number of people who are killed by drunk drivers every single day. Eliminating those 28 a day deaths could have a significant effect because it could also go a long way toward reducing the $59 billion in annual costs of alcohol related crashes in America.
Perhaps the same uproar that initially kept people from buckling up when they got in a car is what keeps can manufacturers from installing this already available technology in the cars that Americans buy. Perhaps the same mentality that keeps some states from passing motorcycle helmet laws is the same as what keeps citizens think that no one should be able to force them to not drive if they have been drinking.
For all of the people who scream for their individual rights, however, it is important to hear the screams of families when they find out that a son, daughter, husband, wife, or parent has been killed in an alcohol related accident. At some point law makers and car manufacturers alike may decide which screams are more important to hear. Ignition interlock devices, a technology that is already available, can safe lives.
