A D.C. law targeting impaired drivers now has some teeth to it, according to an advocacy group working to prevent drunk and drugged driving in the D.C. region.
D.C. residents with a District driver’s license will be required to enroll in the Department of Motor Vehicle’s Ignition Interlock Device Program if they have been convicted of an alcohol- or drug-related driving offense on or after Dec. 19.
Ignition interlock devices use a breath alcohol analyzer to ensure a driver isn’t driving under the influence of intoxicating liquor.
Offenders failing to enroll in the program will have their license revoked indefinitely, and registration of all vehicles they own will be suspended.
“Before, it was mandatory, but there wasn’t really consequences if you’re engaged in the program or not,” said Kurt G. Erickson, the president of the nonprofit Washington Regional Alcohol Program.
“The District has actually had this as a law since 2016. But where it’s becoming fully implemented right now is the fact that you’ve had other complementary legislation in recent years that’s created some teeth to this,” he said.
Erickson applauds the fact that D.C., Maryland and Virginia now all share the same penalty for first offenses of driving under the influence.
“If you’re convicted — as a condition of getting a restricted license — you’re going to have to install these in-car breathalyzers … to prove that anybody that operates your car needs to not be drinking before the car becomes operable,” he said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that ignition interlocks reduce DWI repeat offenses by about 70% while they are installed.
All states have implemented ignition interlock programs to manage interlock issues and monitor offenders who are required or eligible to install them, but only about one-fifth of the people arrested for DWI have interlocks installed, according to the CDC.
Lawmakers in Maryland in 2023 will make a fourth attempt to close what Erickson characterizes as a loophole in the state’s drunk and drugged driving law.
“Most people that get a DUI in (Maryland) get a slap on the wrist in the form of a probation before judgment sentence, as opposed to having an interlock being a condition of their probation,” Erickson said.
“Nearly half of those convicted of a DUI in the state of Maryland get a probation before judgment sentence, which is a diversion sentence, and therefore aren’t subjected to these proven, effective, technical barriers to drunk driving — that being an ignition interlock device.”
This year, D.C. passed a law currently under congressional review that would penalize District residents here at home if they’re convicted of impaired driving while outside the country.
“If you’re a District resident and you’re overseas, and you get convicted of a DUI on a U.S. military base, or in a foreign country, you, as well, will now be subject to having an ignition interlock device on your car when you come back home,” Erickson said.
