Ignition Interlock Device

If your BAC (Blood Alcohol Concentration) is .15 or higher at the time of your DUI arrest, chances are good that you will have to have an Ignition Interlock Device installed on your car. You will also be required by court order to have one of these devices installed on every vehicle registered in your name. An ignition interlock device is a mechanism that is installed below your dashboard that you will have to breathe into each time before you start your vehicle. If your BAC is over a certain amount, your vehicle will not start. The court will mandate that you have one of these devices installed before you start driving on your restricted driver's license. It varies from state to state, but on average, the device is required to be installed for at least 6 months.

You will have to take your vehicle to a local dealer that installs and maintains the interlock devices. You will pay $50-$200 to have the device installed. Once it is installed, you will have to pay $50-$100 for the monthly rental costs of the device. Every 60 days or so you will also have to take your vehicle to the dealer to have the device calibrated. Clearly, this can get very costly if you have multiple vehicles registered in your name.

The ignition interlock also has a feature called "rolling tests" that require a driver to blow into the device while the vehicle is running. The purpose of the rolling tests is to prevent sober individuals from blowing into the device for intoxicated drivers. If this test is positive, alarms such as your horn and flashing lights will go off. These alarms will not stop until the ignition is turned off.

The ignition interlock device contains a computer chip that records your BAC when you breath into the device. If there is a positive reading the vehicle will not start from that point forward. The computer chip also will detect any tampering of the device. If the chip records a positive reading or signs of tampering, your ASAP case worker and/or the law enforcement officials will be contacted immediately. This would be grounds for violation of your probation period and you will then be required to go back to court for additional penalties, jail time, or fines. You could also lose the privilege to drive for a longer period of time.

Mothers Against Drunk Driving went to Washington late last year in an attempt to push Congress to make these devices mandatory for life for all drunk driving offenders. New Mexico is the only state that currently has that law in place and the year after the law was passed, fatalities from drunk driving accidents there decreased by 13%. The Virginia State Senate just passed legislation (February 2012) that requires ignition interlock to be installed in all cases of DUI conviction, regardless of the BAC level. General Motors is doing research on making these types of devices standard on all vehicles.

ASAP - Alcohol Safety Action Program

One of the first requirements after being convicted of your DUI is to report to ASAP for your initial intake registration. ASAP is a state supported program designed to monitor and provide alcohol and drug education to DUI offenders. The purpose of the program is to rehabilitate those convicted of a DUI in an effort to prevent them from repeat offenses of drunk driving.You will have a given time frame to report to ASAP in your court papers. Make sure to put this date in your calendar and definitely do not miss the appointment. The first thing you will do before you start your paper work is blow into a breathalyzer. It is amazing how many offenders walk into ASAP after they have been drinking alcohol and blow a positive reading into the breathalyzer. This is not a good way to start your rehabilitation. ASAP will send you back to court and you will probably have to serve the jail time that was suspended and/or pay any fines that were suspended during your initial trial.

During your intake you will fill out a questionnaire. The questionnaire will ask you about your drinking habits and your history of drinking.  After you complete the questionnaire you will meet with a ASAP representative who will inform you of what will be required of you during your 1 year probation period. Depending on the review of your questionnaire and your BAC at the time of your arrest, the ASAP representative may refer you to a treatment center that specializes in alcohol and drug abuse. The ASAP representative will give you a form with the name and phone number of the treatment center you will be referred to. You will have a certain time frame to contact them and make an appointment. I forgot to mention that before you leave ASAP, you will have to write a $400 check for your registration fee.

When you arrive for your appointment at the treatment center you will be given a urine drug test. This urine test can detect alcohol in your system for up to 80 hours of your last drink and they will bust you if it comes back positive. After your drug test you will complete another questionnaire and then you will be interviewed by a counselor. Most people are defensive and angry during this interview because they all think they don't need this treatment. This approach will only make matters worse for you. The counselor will tell you during the interview whether or not you will be required to go through the treatment program. I was required to go through the program. I was informed that I had to attend 2 two hour sessions per week for 16 weeks. Also during that 16 week period I was required to attend 2 Alcoholics Anonymous meetings per week. The cost of the treatment program was $80 per session or $160 per week! Your health insurance may pay portion of this cost.

From my experience, my advice is to leave your anger at the door and try to see this as a positive experience. This will be the first time most of you have ever had to express your inner most feelings in a group setting. You will find, as I did, that the people in the group are just like you. If you participate and are honest during the group discussion you will feel an immediate support system from the group. I actually got to the point where I looked forward to going to the sessions. It is amazing to see people go from bitter and angry to totally opening up and even becoming emotional when talking about their drinking and DUI. The 16 weeks will fly by and when it's time for you to leave, I promise you will feel good about the experience.

After you complete your treatment center sessions, your next step is to attend the 10 week, 2 hours per week ASAP classes. In these classes you will be educated on how alcohol affects your body and how it impairs your driving. You will also be asked to come up with a plan of action that will prevent you from ever making the decision to drink and drive again. ASAP is very strict on your attendance to the classes. The doors will be locked when the class starts and late arrivers will be marked absent from the class. Couple missed classes will get you kicked out of the program and you will be forced to start all over. Again I have found if you have a good attitude and participate in class discussions, this will be be a positive experience for you.

After your 10 weeks of classes, you are done with the exception of ASAP having the option to call you in for random drug testing. I have heard stories of people testing positive on a drug test during the period after they have completed all their course work and the end of their probation. These people were sent back to court and were forced to start the entire process all over again. Don't be one of these people.

Don't let the Super Bowl lead you to a Super Mistake

The Super Bowl is always one of the biggest party occassions of the year. Unfortunately, it is also one of the biggest days for DUI arrests. Don't become a 2012 statistic Sunday night. I know the Giants being in the Super Bowl will drive anyone to heavy drinking but if you are driving tomorrow night, keep in mind that the law enforcement officials will be be looking for you. Sorry Giant fans I am a disgruntled Redskins fan. Here are some thoughts to keep in mind if you are drinking alcohol tomorrow night and plan to drive home:

1. Every drink you consume adds .02 to your BAC (Blood Alcohol Concentration). It doesn't matter if your drink of choice is beer, wine, or liquor.
2. Your body metabolizes (gets rid of) .015 BAC per hour.
3. The rate at which your body metabolizes is based on the passage of time and nothing else.
4. If you consume 3 drinks the first hour you are there you are already close to a .06. Keep in mind that in a lot of states .08 is the point at which will get you arrested for a DUI. If you drop back to 2 drinks for the next 2 or 3 hours you could easily reach a .15 or higher. For people accustomed to regular drinking, you will not realize you are reaching this point. If you are convicted of a DUI at a .15, you will lose your license for 1 year, an ignition interlock system will have to be installed on every vehicle registered in your name, and you will spend a mandatory 5 days in jail.
5. Even if you are smart enough not to drive home, you may still be over the legal limit Monday morning when you get in your car to drive to work. This is especially true if you continue to drink until 1:00 or 2:00 am.
6. If you have had a hard night of drinking, just assume you are at a .2 BAC when you stop drinking. Simply subtract .015 per hour since your last drink from .2 and that will give you your BAC at a given passage of time. As I said in my previous blog this is a risky numbers game. The best course of action is to have a designated driver or cab and then make certain you are sober enough in the morning to drive.

Enjoy the game.

Okay to drive the morning after? Think Again!

An alarming number of alcohol related accidents and DUI's occur in the morning hours between 7:00 am and 9:00 am. The main reason for this is that  most of these drivers drink alcohol the night before and do not allow enough time to pass for their body to metabolize the alcohol so that their BAC (Blood Alcohol Concentration) is below the legal limit. Most (90%) of the aclohol you drink leaves the body through a process known as metabolism which is a set of chemical reactions that break down the food that we eat. The human body metabolizes alcohol at a rate of .015 per hour. To estimate the time required so that you are legally sober enough to drive, you need to take your BAC level at the time you finish drinking and subtract .015 per hour from it. An example is one evening you leave the bar at 1:00 am and you have a BAC of .2, when you get in your car to drive to work at 8:00 am, 7 hours have passed which means your BAC would be close to a .10 (.2 - (7 hours x .015). At this point you are driving to work while legally drunk and you are probably totally unaware of it. In fact, the alcohol would not be totally out of your system until 3:00 pm that afternoon. This is calculated by taking the original BAC of .2 divided by .015 per hour or 13.33 hours. This is a very risky numbers game that could cost you dearly if you miscalculate. This is why I am a proponent of personal breathalyzers. It takes the risk away but the best bet is to never drink and drive.