Is a Lack of Funds Impeding California’s Efforts to Curtail Drunk Driving?

In the United States, someone is killed in an alcohol-related motor vehicle accident every 48 minutes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). California is among the states with the highest incidences of accidents in which alcohol was a factor, with 1,146 fatalities and 17,976 cases of personal injury in 2009, according to the California Highway Patrol’s most current data. In response to this problem, state traffic agencies and legislators have implemented a number of programs aimed at curtailing drinking and driving, explains a California personal injury attorney. However, a lack of funds has impeded the success of some of these programs.

One such program that has suffered from underfunding is the state’s Ignition Interlock Device Pilot Program. Implemented in four counties in 2010—Alameda, Los Angeles, Sacramento, and Tulare—the program requires first-time and repeat-DUI offenders to install a breathalyzer in their vehicles that connects to the ignition, preventing them from driving if alcohol is detected when they blow into the device. A first-time offense carries a sentence of six months with the machine, a second offence one year, and a third offence two years. The expense of receiving a DUI increases significantly with the requirement of the device, which costs $125 to install, $60 for monthly maintenance, and $45 to register with the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV).

According to the DMV, only about 30 percent of the 27,700 drivers who were supposed to install an ignition interlock device have complied with the law since it was enacted. The agency speculates that the remaining 70 percent of DUI offenders are either driving on suspended licenses or not driving at all. Given the economy, it’s understandable that many drivers cannot afford to install and maintain the machine and, in the absence of strong DMV regulation of the law, choose not to. Understaffing and underfunding have impeded the agency’s processing of driver records. At present, their computer system has yet to be automated, so employees must enter the data manually, according to the investigative reporting collaboration California Watch.

Considering that drivers with a Blood Alcohol Content of .08 or higher who are involved in fatal accidents were eight times more likely to have a prior conviction for driving while impaired than were sober drivers in 2009, measures to prevent DUI offenders from driving while intoxicated are crucial to the safety of California’s roads. If the DMV does not receive the funding necessary to properly enforce the ignition interlock program, state lawmakers may terminate it, as it is currently only in the pilot stage, explains an attorney. Given their statistically high rate of recidivism, such a program is pivotal to preventing DUI offenders from causing accidents resulting in fatal or serious personal injury.