Drunk drivers: Congress gets behind breath-test ignition devices

[Tunkamerica]

1. we should just inject anyone who has purchased alcohol with a spybot that reports back

to central command about the subject's activities. How could that be abused?


In truth, I knew one of the first 100 or so to get the interlock devices on their car in NC in the early 2000's. It was ridiculously dangerous for her because of having to stop the car on deserted stretches of highway (between Raleigh and Western NC), perform a complex routine of on punches and off punches between three separate buttons punctuated with long breaths, and if she failed three times she was stranded wherever she was, safe or not until she could get a tow truck to tow her somewhere where the interlock device could be reset. That didn't even take into account the false positives she had to pay hundreds of dollars for or the fact that vinegar on a subway sandwich or mouthwash would set the thing off.

It seemed a punishment in excess of the crime (in which no one was hurt, no property was damaged, and she was barely 21) that she had to pay for in dollars, safety, and humiliation (not to mention job opportunities) for years and years.

Drunk driving is wrong and I don't do it, but seeing what she had to go through turned me against these devices early on.