By Rick Berman
ABL Washington Counsel
Remember Knight Rider, the television show about the car with a brain? Life may imitate art in the near future but in this case, your car may decide to shut itself down because you ve had a single drink. That s the reality that ignition interlock makers and their activist partners are driving toward, and they have been quietly creating one of the most dangerous threats the alcohol industry faces.
Of course, many people can t envision that scenario now because it seems so far down the road. But then again, efforts to ban smoking, drinking while pregnant, cancer-causing French fries, and soft drinks in schools have all percolated under the radar before they caught industries flat-footed.
The inability to recognize the incremental approach used by activists is the same weakness that allowed for .08 percent blood alcohol concentration (BAC) arrest levels. It s important to realize that interlocks are the new effort to get to .04 or below.
There are serious concerns about interlocks, and judges are often reluctant to order the use of the machines for any but the worst drunk driving offenders. That s because the devices are extremely costly to purchase and maintain, they are intrusive, and they have been shown to increase the risk of accident, quite possibly because they require the driver to blow into a tube while operating the vehicle. Yet activists are trying to normalize these troubling contraptions.
Not satisfied that judges only order these devices in the cars of repeat offenders, activists then wanted the machines in cars of people with just one DUI.
And then there was the flabbergasting victory by Mothers Against Drunk Driving in Washington State that mandated devices in the car of every motorist arrested for the suspicion of drunk driving prior to conviction!
In 2003, legislators in New York, New Mexico, and Oklahoma introduced bills requiring ignition interlocks in every car. MADD New Mexico executive director Terry Huertaz lobbied strongly for a 0.02 percent BAC limit on the devices, arguing that with a higher limit, you re giving people a false sense of security.
New York State Assemblyman Felix Ortiz who has said drinking and driving should not be a choice admitted that with his breathalyzer legislation, We are targeting responsible adults.
And just a few weeks ago, researchers and their interlock industry backers gathered at the sixth annual Ignition interlock Symposium held in France. While too few even know that there have been six straight meetings plotting to have these machines forced into our cars, even fewer know that MADD s then-national president Wendy Hamilton was the keynote speaker at last year s convention.
This year s symposium again spelled bad news for good policy. The event featured the administrator of the Swedish interlock Trial Project, who reported that Swedish legislators are currently drafting a bill to mandate that all new cars (including imports) be equipped with ignition interlock devices by 2012. A representative from Finland s Ministry of Transport added that if Sweden succeeds in getting European Union approval of this law, Finland would follow suit.
The interlock industry would be ecstatic to get their products in every car, and MADD is more than willing to push the products.
Smart Start, a major interlock company, has given tens of thousands of dollars to MADD, which in turn mentioned the company s product. In fact, when a company gives a donation to join the list of MADD Technology and Safety Sponsors, MADD literature promises the group will promote your company s products and special equipment discounts to MADD s 600 chapters and state organizations year round.
It s becoming more clear and clear to more people that ignition interlocks are MADD s secret weapon to attack all consumption of adult beverages.
When it came time to pass the $286 billion federal highway bill this summer, MADD supported a mandate that would have penalized states that didn t require ignition interlocks for many DUI offenders. This troubling policy failed to make it into that bill, so now legislators are using an old Washington trick and trying to sneak it into an appropriations bill.
That strategy should sound familiar, since it was used to get states to .08.
I ve been told by a very senior MADD executive that they are going to get to zero [alcohol-related fatalities]. We have the technology to do it. My source didn t reveal what the technology was, but the answer is obvious: ignition interlocks.
The only way for neo-prohibitionists to get to zero is to eliminate all drinking prior to driving. That s because there are 3,000 fatalities below .08 percent BAC that are alcohol related including the nearly 1,200 at BACs of .01, .02 and .03 that are obviously not alcohol-caused.
interlocks are the Trojan horse in the war to lower BAC limits. Using traditional tactics, a .04 percent limit would be virtually unenforceable because it would require a checkpoint on every corner. But a passive system can lower the level without a cop around or a lights-blaring roadblock. Most states already set the BAC limit for interlocks at less than one third the current limit, creating a de facto BAC limit of 0.02 percent or 0.03 percent.
If MADD succeeds in shaping public opinion regarding these devices and greatly increases their use and social acceptance as planned, they will have succeeded in virtually eliminating on-premise consumption. Once these devices are ubiquitous, lowering the threshold is simply a matter of turning a dial.
There s little chance of getting this horse back in the barn. Just ask yourself this question: When faced with a demand by MADD and its legislative supporters to lower the BAC to .04 percent, which industry executive or level-headed legislator will stand up and fight it in a public forum? Maybe you know those people, but I don t.
We can t sit idly by while ignition interlock companies and their activist partners create a PR environment for laws eliminating the responsible consumption of adult beverages.
Doing nothing is a non-starter.
Source: ABL Leader, November, 2005, published monthly by Continental Communications, 125 W. Granite St., Suite 102, Butte, MT 59701.