A new law will allow a person who has as many as four DUI convictions to get back behind the wheel and on the road, but part of the requirement includes new technology to prove that they aren’t driving drunk.
Joyce Dorfman says the Ignition Interlock system could have saved her son’s life had the technology existed years ago.That’s just one more tool to cut down on drunk driving and drunk driving fatalities.
It was a drunk driver that killed Joyce’s 40-year-old son Jeffrey 15 years ago. Joyce tells us that he had a wife and baby boy.
She explains, “A young woman had spent the afternoon sitting in a bar drinking, and we later learned she had friends that offered to drive her home.”
Joyce, a volunteer with Mother’s Against Drunk Driving , believes many repeat offenders continue to take the wheel even after their license is revoked. “Does that really stop anybody from driving if they lose their license?” she asks. “Probably not.”
So, even though a new law will allow a person with four DUI convictions back on the road, Joyce is okay with it, because the driver is required to have an Ignition Interlock system, which will help monitor the repeat offenders.
“The car won’t start they have to blow into it before you can crank the car.”
To prevent other people from providing the required breath sample, the Interlock system needs additional random breath tests during the trip.
“I have no doubt in the technology,” Joyce says. She and those with M.A.D.D. believe in the Ignition Interlock system works. “It’s too late for our family to benefit from anything like that, but my hope would be that some other family in the future would not have to go through what we’re going through.”
According to the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, there are 17,000 drivers in the state with four DUI convictions that could get their license back for employment purposes only. However, out of that, around 6,000 people would actually be eligible.
Have you recently been charged with a drunk driiving offense in Sarasota? If so, feel free to contact a Sarasota DUI attorney at Musca Law for a free consultation:
Sarasota County Office
1990 Main Street, Suite 750
Sarasota, FL 34326
Phone: 941-916-3627
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