Word: drunks
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...latest MADD campaign, reported by the New York Times yesterday, is to mandate ignition interlocks for everyone convicted of a drunk driving offense. Over 70,000 ignition interlocks, which force drivers to pass a breath test to start their car and then to periodically re-test while the vehicle is in operation, are already used in some parts of the United States. To date, these have been forced only upon those convicted of driving under the influence (DUI), but legislators in New York are now considering a law that would require all new cars to come with a lock...
...interlocks is necessary because “the threat of arrest and punishment…is no longer working” to discourage drunk driving, according to officials cited by the Times. Of course, this article goes on to state that the number of alcohol-related fatalities has remained steady over the past decade. Given that the number of cars on the road and the number of miles driven have increased, this means that the number of fatalities per car and per mile—more pertinent statistics—have declined...
Moreover, much-quoted “alcohol-related” numbers are about as relevant to the problem of drunk driving as the ratio of cars to bumblebees. These numbers, rolled out by MADD like WWI howitzers, do not evaluate whether drinking actually contributed to the accident. So, if a sober driver hits a driver who had a beer at dinner, it is recorded as an “alcohol-related” accident. In fact, as noted by Radley Balko, a Cato Institute analyst, when the Los Angeles Times examined accident data in 2002, it found that only...
That said, it would be foolish not to take cost-free steps to reduce the number of drunk driving accidents. Alas, interlocks are not a cost-free panacea. Although legislators typically spend other people’s money with wild abandon, even the most starry-eyed politician might balk at mandating the use of these locks, which cost rougly $1,000 per year. This increase, over two percent of the median American’s annual income, would significantly harm the quality of millions of Americans’ lives, imposing costs on adults who never drink...
...that the risk of crashing was higher for offenders with a lock installed—perhaps because they were being asked to conduct breath tests while driving.) If the locks have no effect when imposed after a first DUI conviction—which presumably selects for the most likely drunk drivers—what is the chance that they will have an effect if foisted upon millions of people who simply want...