FRIDAY, Feb. 15 (HealthDay News) -- Breath-testing devices that
prevent a vehicle from starting if the driver's blood alcohol level
exceeds a preset limit can dramatically reduce more DWI offenses
among first-time offenders, a new study shows.
First offenders with "interlock" devices installed on their cars
were 60 percent less likely to have a repeat offense than those who
did not use the devices, according to findings published in the
current issue of
Traffic Injury Prevention.
"This study on first-time offenders reinforces prior studies on
this issue that show a 65 percent reduction in drunk driving while
interlocks are installed," Paul Marques, of the Pacific Institute
for Research and Evaluation, said in a prepared statement.
The findings may help resolve questions about whether interlocks
work as well with first-time offenders as with repeat offenders.
Two earlier studies had questioned their effect, but the
researchers noted that in those studies, only a small proportion of
those required to install the interlocks actually did.
In the new study, researchers examined the records of 1,461
first-time DWI offenders in New Mexico who had interlocks installed
in their vehicles and compared them with 17,562 first-time
offenders in the state who didn't use the devices. The two groups
were matched by age, gender and blood alcohol concentration at the
time of arrest.
"The average first offender has driven drunk many times before
he or she was arrested. The big risk difference is between
non-offenders and first offenders. The risk difference between
first offenders and repeat offenders is small by comparison,"
Marques said.
This research -- funded in part by the Substance Abuse Policy
Research Program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a
philanthropic organization that focuses on health and health-care
issues -- also cited possible economic benefits to vehicle
interlocks.
One device cost the offender $2.25 per day, leading the authors
to estimate that for every dollar spent on interlocks for first
offenders, the public saves $3 in damage and destruction caused by
DWI crashes.
"Interlocks present an opportunity to help change behavior
rather than simply punishing or incarcerating the offender,"
Marques said. "It's not enough to revoke a license -- 75 percent of
all people with revoked licenses drive anyway -- but you don't want
to sentence an entire family to poverty if they're dependent on
that driver getting to and from his or her job. By installing an
interlock, the risk that the DWI offender poses is controlled, and
interlocks become a public benefit."
Only about 10 percent of arrested DWIs nationally are ordered a
period of interlock-controlled driving, Marques said. Four states
mandate interlocks for first DWI offenses: New Mexico, Louisiana,
Arizona and Illinois (effective in 2009).
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