The Ignition Lock Laws

New ignition lock laws aim to foil drunk drivers

By MICHAEL TARM Associated Press Writer © 2009 The Associated Press
Jan. 2, 2009, 12:11PM
AP
CHICAGO — Motorists convicted of driving drunk will have to install breath-monitoring gadgets in their cars under new laws taking effect in six states this week.
The ignition interlocks prevent engines from starting until drivers blow into the alcohol detectors to prove they're sober.

Alaska, Colorado, Illinois, Nebraska and Washington state began Jan. 1 requiring the devices for all motorists convicted of first-time drunken driving. South Carolina began requiring them for repeat offenders.

Mothers Against Drunk Driving has been conducting a nationwide campaign to mandate ignition locks for anyone convicted of drunken driving, claiming doing so would save thousands of lives. But critics say interlocks could lead to measures that restrict alcohol policies too much.
Users must pay for the fist-sized devices, which in Illinois cost around $80 to install on dashboards and $80 a month to rent; there's also a $30 monthly state fee. And they require periodic retesting while the car is running.

"It's amazingly inconvenient," said David Malham, of the Illinois chapter of MADD. "But the flip side of the inconvenience is death."

Other states with similar laws include New Mexico, Arizona and Louisiana. Most other states give judges the option of forcing convicted drunk drivers to use the devices. In practice though, they are rarely ordered unless laws mandate them, according to MADD.

Until now, that's been true in Illinois, said MADD national CEO Chuck Hurley.

"Illinois has excellent law enforcement," he said. "But the judicial system leaks like a sieve. This law will change the catch and release system to one where people are at least caught and tagged."

In Illinois, the interlocks are mandated only for the five to 11 months licenses are suspended with a first DUI. Drivers can opt not to install them, but then would be banned from driving during the suspension period.

Motorists in Colorado get a similar choice — install the devices or get a longer suspension.
The law taking effect in Washington state actually relaxes penalties on drunk drivers, allowing them to avoid a previously mandatory license suspension by getting an interlock. The bill's author, Rep. Roger Goodman, said too many motorists were driving with suspended licenses.
Motorists could try to skirt the devices by, say, having someone else blow into the detector or driving someone else's car. But if caught trying to circumvent the interlocks, they could go to jail.
Within a year, up to 30,000 first-time offenders in Illinois could be using them, state officials estimate.

New Mexico was the first state to mandate the devices in 2005. Since then, according to MADD, that state has seen its drunk-driving deaths fall 20 percent.

Hurley said other states could see the same percentage decline within a few years.
DUI deaths nationally have plummeted to around 15,000 from around 30,000 annually in the early 1980s.

Malham, who supports the technology, said in the future even more advanced technology will enable cars to effectively sniff car cabins, scan faces and eyes of drivers or even test sweat on steering wheels to assess sobriety before engines start.

Not everyone is as enthusiastic.

One of the staunchest critics of interlock laws for first-time offenders is the Washington-based American Beverage Institute, a trade association representing restaurants and retailers.
ABI managing director Sarah Longwell said the group backs interlock laws targeting repeat offenders and those arrested with high blood-alcohol levels.

But she said laws advocated by MADD don't allow judges to distinguish between those who have a few drinks and go just over the 0.08 blood-alcohol legal limit and those who go way over.
"We want sensible alcohol policies," she said. "We want 10 people to be able to come in and have one drink and not one person to come in and have 10."

She said current interlock laws could lead to more draconian measures.
"We foresee is a country in which you're no longer able to have a glass of wine, drink a beer at a ball game or enjoy a champagne toast at a wedding," she said. "There will be a de facto zero tolerance policy imposed on people by their cars."

She argued that MADD puts too much emphasis on links between alcohol and traffic deaths, giving too little regard to the roles excessive speed and driver cell-phone use in deadly accidents.
Proponents of interlock laws say studies back their approach. They cite a 2008 study by the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation that found interlock devices in New Mexico helped decrease repeat offenses by approximately two-thirds.

MADD also points to figures showing one-third of all drunk drivers have a prior DUI conviction.
The American Beverage Institute questions studies cited by advocates, saying they other factors, like education programs, also account for the declines.

Malham concedes Illinois' new law isn't perfect. For one, it only applies to drivers during relatively short license-suspension periods.

"But perfection can't be the enemy of the good, to quote (18th century philosopher) Voltaire," he said. "I'd like to see more teeth in the law in the future. But this is a start."

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What’s my official take on this issue and article? Frankly – I’m surprised! I’m surprised that with all the lobbying, red tape and difficulty in government that something this meaningful (and drastic) got through legislatures in these five states! Props to these states for helping to eliminate deaths from impaired driving!
A few things to consider about this article:

First lets look at Ms. Longwell’s “slippery slope” theory about the country moving to a zero tolerance level, implemented by technology in cars. The inference is that this is just one more measure that controls individuals’ personal behaviors

So, is that the goal? Does MADD really want a world where, as Ms. Longwell says, people cannot have a glass of champagne at a wedding or a beer at a ballgame?

To get this answer, I turned to Don Murray, executive director of MADD in Florida.
Is there any legitimacy to ABI/Ms. Longwell’s slippery slope idea? Is MADD attempting to lower the legal limit to .06, thereby further insuring Ms. Longwell’s idea of zero tolerance?

The answer is a resounding, “No!” Don Murray, executive director of MADD-Florida said MADD is fine with keeping the presumptive legal limit at .08. There is no push nor desire by MADD to have the limit legally changed. I think we’d all like to see people have enough personal responsibility to know their personal limit, but since that is unrealistic, a government imposed legal limit is necessity.

Second, just a little bit of education shows the drastic changes suggested by Ms. Longwell aren’t likely.

Physiologically, to reach .08, an average man (say, 180 lbs.) would have to drink four beers in 60 minutes on an empty stomach. Since the body metabolizes 12 oz. of beer, 1.5 oz. of liquor and 5 oz. of wine (single serving of one of the preceding) per hour, a glass of chardonnay with your Chilean sea bass ain’t going to get you anywhere near .08. Even two drinks, for most people, will not physiologically raise one’s BAC to .08.

Personal awareness of impairment levels is the absolute best way to govern oneself, but the zero tolerance idea put forth by ABI just doesn’t hold water.

Ice Dancing Champ Sentenced to Prison

Ice Dancing Champ Sentenced to Prison
AP

BURGAS, Bulgaria (Jan. 5) - A court in Bulgaria has sentenced world ice-dancing champion Maxim Staviski to 2 1/2 years in prison for a fatal drunk driving accident.

The court on Monday overturned an earlier suspended sentence for the same term.
Staviski was found guilty of crashing his car into an oncoming vehicle in August 2007. A 23-year-old man died and an 18-year-old woman was severely injured in the accident.

Police records showed Staviski's blood-alcohol level was more than double the legal limit.
The 31-year-old Staviski was released pending his appeal. He was also ordered to pay $187,200 in compensation.

Staviski and Albena Denkova captured their second consecutive ice-dancing title at the World Figure Skating Championships in March 2007.

********

What are Bulgarian laws on impaired driving? Are they in line with America's? More strict? More lenient? Frankly, I don't know. It's difficult enough to keep up with the various laws in each state, much less in eastern European countries.

Maybe it's just me, but athletes drinking to the point of impairment seems, well, counteractive. Someone has had to physically train so hard to reach their level of accomplishment, yet drinks to such excess as to reduce the quality of that training. Big football players are one thing, but ice dancing? Any type of figure skating takes such precision that to think of that precision being "off" due to intoxication just seems out of line with what his life has been dedicated to. Interesting...but overall, whether it's Bulgaria or Boston or Buenos Aires or Bangladesh, a death from driving under the influence still results in loss. Death is the great equalizer, as it's said, but such a senseless way to die; not to mention preventable.

Hazing

Sad and unfortunate and unnecessary. And, as you'll hear so many fraternity/sorority alumni say years after graduation, "That could've just as easily been one of us." We're all so lucky it wasn't us... but that doesn't change the loss of this student's life.

And the father of the deceased is right – this IS a system that has to change. And the best changes come from within. So, c'mon, fellow Greeks... this is yet another blinding flash of the obvious how we need to step up within our own organizations and prevent this type of tragedy from ever happening again.

Hazing Charged In Utah State Teen's Death

Last Edited: Saturday, 03 Jan 2009, 3:41 PM EST
Created: Saturday, 03 Jan 2009, 3:41 PM EST
Credit: MyFox


By The Associated Press

LOGAN, Utah -- A fraternity and sorority at Utah State University were charged with felony hazing after an 18-year-old freshman pledge died of alcohol poisoning.
The school's chapters of the Sigma Nu fraternity and Chi Omega sorority were each charged Friday with one count of third-degree felony hazing for their involvement with the death of Michael Starks. Prosecutors also filed misdemeanor hazing charges against 12 students, including the chapter president of Sigma Nu.
The students face a year in jail if convicted, while punishment for the chapters is unclear."You obviously can't put the entity in jail, but you can affect their corporate nature and their ability to continue to act as an association or an entity," Cache County Attorney George Daines said.Starks, of Salt Lake City, was found not breathing at the Sigma Nu residence and pronounced dead at a hospital after paramedics couldn't revive him. His blood alcohol content was higher than 0.35 percent, more than four times the legal limit to drive an automobile, authorities said.
A probable cause document said that Starks and another pledge were abducted by women from the sorority, bound with duct tape, and given vodka.
But the Herald Journal of Logan reported that the statement also said Starks was not forced to drink the alcohol.
Utah's hazing statute allows for charges to be filed even if the victim consented to the abuse as long as the person was younger than 21.Daines said previous pledges underwent similar initiation ceremonies."
The fraternity has to be held accountable," George Starks, the student's father, told The Salt Lake Tribune.
"It's a system, a machine that envelops the kids. Any one of those kids could have said, 'Wait a minute, this isn't a good thing.'"
The two organizations declined to comment until they read the charges.

Do Mechanical Singing Animals Cause Violence?

There is one national chain of restaurants which logs more drunken brawls than all the others. Far outweighing even "real" drinking establishments (i.e., those with bars and drink specials) is (ready for this?)... Chuckie Cheese.

Yes, that's right! Apparently according to a national survey of crime stats, Chuckie Cheese has more assaults, domestic disturbances, etc. from alcohol consumption than other national chains.

And what does this prove? Not totally sure. I've personally never known a single person who's gotten loaded while at a kid's birthday party. But kids...that's where adults get stupider than by alcohol consumption.

We hear stories of parents getting overly involved in the lives of their children. Case and point, the cyber bullying case from St. Louis where the young girl committed suicide due to her friend's mother's MySpace duping. And get a bunch of kids together, especially where games, toys, bright flashing lights and alcohol are involved? ...yeah, I can see that.

Sad, isn't it? People have little control of themselves at any time, but to do so with children looking on is a huge disservice to the development and maturing processes of those kids.

Is it Sexist?

Since New Year’s is so associated with heavy drinking and partying, the U.S. Dept. of Transportation put out a new public service ad discouraging people from getting behind the wheel after drinking. The commercial shows three different law enforcement officers pulling over three impaired drivers. In each case, the cop asks, “Sir, have you been drinking this evening?”

There are many ways to keep people from driving drunk. This is just one weapon in the arsenal. So, where’s the problem?

Some feel that due to the police only pulling over men in this advert, that the Department of Transportation is being sexist.

To that I say…check the data. The vast majority of drunk drivers are men between 21 and 34. They are also Caucasian or Hispanic. Typically, those who get pulled over for impaired driving have a blood alcohol concentration of .15 or higher (roughly twice the presumptive legal limit).

Would it hurt the U.S. DOT to show a woman getting cuffed for DWI? Nope. Nor would it hurt to show an African American, a transvestite, a midget or a couple of conjoined twins. The truth is, there is no demographic exempt from drunk driving. And I applaud the DOT for showing the most common offender-after all, it’s probably that same demographic that’s watching the adverts, too.


21-35 year old men are the most common impaired drivers.

Diddy’s Free Ride?

Hey, maybe this is a marketing ploy to get people to drink more. And maybe it's not. Either way, if it keeps drunk drivers off the street, I'm all for it.

******

Free Ride

In an effort to get New Yorkers to drink up on New Year's Eve, Diddy is offering revelers free cab rides. According to the NY Daily News, the CIROC vodka spokesman will dole out $15 debit cards for people to use to get home safely after guzzling his product. We'll drink to that. (Dec. 30)

20% Of College Students?

A new and extensive study was done on mental health of college students (see below). Props should be given for bringing mental health to the forefront along with the multitude of other health issues facing college students.

In my profession, seeing that 20% of college students are problem drinkers seems staggering. Does the excessive drinking lead to a mental health disorder? Or did the mental health issue act as a catalyst for overconsumption? The old "chicken or the egg" notion.

Either way, this study is sure to spark many debates on campuses nationwide. And if you're a college student dealing with any of these issues, every campus has resources to help. Like the article says, we, as a society, just have to get past the stigma of mental health disorders.

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1 in 5 Young Adults Has Personality Disorder, Study Finds

CHICAGO — Almost one in five young American adults has a personality disorder that interferes with everyday life, and even more abuse alcohol or drugs, researchers reported Monday in the most extensive study of its kind.
The disorders include problems such as obsessive or compulsive tendencies and anti-social behavior that can sometimes lead to violence. The study also found that fewer than 25 percent of college-aged Americans with mental problems get treatment.
One expert said personality disorders may be overdiagnosed. But others said the results were not surprising since previous, less rigorous evidence has suggested mental problems are common on college campuses and elsewhere.
Experts praised the study's scope — face-to-face interviews about numerous disorders with more than 5,000 young people ages 19 to 25 — and said it spotlights a problem college administrators need to address.
Study co-author Dr. Mark Olfson of Columbia University and New York State Psychiatric Institute called the widespread lack of treatment particularly worrisome. He said it should alert not only "students and parents, but also deans and people who run college mental health services about the need to extend access to treatment."
Counting substance abuse, the study found that nearly half of young people surveyed have some sort of psychiatric condition, including students and non-students.
Personality disorders were the second most common problem behind drug or alcohol abuse as a single category. The disorders include obsessive, anti-social and paranoid behaviors that are not mere quirks but actually interfere with ordinary functioning.
The study authors noted that recent tragedies such as fatal shootings at Northern Illinois University and Virginia Tech have raised awareness about the prevalence of mental illness on college campuses.
They also suggest that this age group might be particularly vulnerable.
"For many, young adulthood is characterized by the pursuit of greater educational opportunities and employment prospects, development of personal relationships, and for some, parenthood," the authors said. These circumstances, they said, can result in stress that triggers the start or recurrence of psychiatric problems.
The study was released Monday in Archives of General Psychiatry. It was based on interviews with 5,092 young adults in 2001 and 2002.
Olfson said it took time to analzye the data, including weighting the results to extrapolate national numbers. But the authors said the results would probably hold true today.
The study was funded with grants from the National Institutes of Health, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and the New York Psychiatric Institute.
Dr. Sharon Hirsch, a University of Chicago psychiatrist not involved in the study, praised it for raising awareness about the problem and the high numbers of affected people who don't get help.
Imagine if more than 75 percent of diabetic college students didn't get treatment, Hirsch said. "Just think about what would be happening on our college campuses."
The results highlight the need for mental health services to be housed with other medical services on college campuses, to erase the stigma and make it more likely that people will seek help, she said.
In the study, trained interviewers, but not psychiatrists, questioned participants about symptoms. They used an assessment tool similar to criteria doctors use to diagnose mental illness.
Dr. Jerald Kay, a psychiatry professor at Wright State University and chairman of the American Psychiatric Association's college mental health committee, said the assessment tool is considered valid and more rigorous than self-reports of mental illness. He was not involved in the study.
Personality disorders showed up in similar numbers among both students and non-students, including the most common one, obsessive compulsive personality disorder. About 8 percent of young adults in both groups had this illness, which can include an extreme preoccupation with details, rules, orderliness and perfectionism.
Kay said the prevalence of personality disorders was higher than he would expect and questioned whether the condition might be overdiagnosed.
All good students have a touch of "obsessional" personality that helps them work hard to achieve. But that's different from an obsessional disorder that makes people inflexible and controlling and interferes with their lives, he explained.
Obsessive compulsive personality disorder differs from the better known OCD, or obsessive-compulsive disorder, which features repetitive actions such as hand-washing to avoid germs.
OCD is thought to affect about 2 percent of the general population. The study didn't examine OCD separately but grouped it with all anxiety disorders, seen in about 12 percent of college-aged people in the survey.
The overall rate of other disorders was also pretty similar among college students and non-students.
Substance abuse, including drug addiction, alcoholism and other drinking that interferes with school or work, affected nearly one-third of those in both groups.
Slightly more college students than non-students were problem drinkers — 20 percent versus 17 percent. And slightly more non-students had drug problems — nearly 7 percent versus 5 percent.
In both groups, about 8 percent had phobias and 7 percent had depression.
Bipolar disorder was slightly more common in non-students, affecting almost 5 percent versus about 3 percent of students.