College Times

Media Credit: Ryan A Ruiz

Anyone convicted of a DUI in Arizona will now be required to install an ignition interlock device in their car, under a law that went into effect this month.

The devices are connected through the ignition and require the driver to breathe into the equipment before starting the car, as well as randomly while the person is driving.

Many experts say the devices are among the most effective tools to prevent reoccurrences of drunken driving. While the devices can be removed, it’s not easy.

“It can be removed from the car, sure, but the person is going get to caught and get penalized for it,” said Dan Rhodes, general manger for the Arizona branch of Guardian Interlock, a company that installs breathalyzer tests nationwide has a local office based in Tempe.

Rhodes said if the device detects alcohol on the driver’s breath prior to ignition the car will lock, and if it detects it on the driver while the car is started, it will make an annoying sound and the car will lock as soon as it is turned off.

The device records all failures of the test and registers them; three failures and another year is added to the program.

Participants in the program are required to have their car checked eight times a year.

Overall, Rhodes said the devices are extremely successful.

“It’s the only thing that happens when you get a DUI that I think serves a true purpose,” Rhodes said.

Rhodes said the majority of clients that come to his company are completely compliant in the program and that 10 percent of his customers continue to rent the device in their car after their required time of using the device is up.

Rhodes said it was successful because it is something that requires the user to make a change in their daily habits.

“I have customers tell me that they have made a lifestyle change because of the device,” Rhodes said.

According to the company’s national website, it has “prevented 4,931,988 intoxicated drivers from accessing the roadways.”

Sergeant Mike Horn, a spokesman for the Tempe Police Department, said he had heard about drivers disabling their breathalyzer “from time to time.”

“I hope it’s helping,” Horn said of the devices. “But by no means has it solved the impaired driving.”

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