Ignition Interlock Devices Could Be Required For All Convicted Drunk Drivers In California
SACRAMENTO (KCBS) -- New efforts are underway to reduce the number of deaths and injuries caused by drunk drivers by requiring ignition interlock devices statewide in California for drivers convicted of a DUI.
The ignition lock devices require a driver to blow a sober reading before the car will start.
Mothers Against Drunk Driving National Board Member Mary Klotzbach of Livermore lost her son to a drunk driver.
"A drunk driver, on a suspended license crashed into our car, changing our lives forever," Klotzbach said. She is endorsing a measure being moved forward by State Senator Jerry Hill to expand the interlock device program from four counties to all California counties.
"In California each year, over 1,000 people die from drunk drivers, and 20,000 are injured," Hill said in a press conference.
The legislation is in effect in 25 other states.
The Public Safety Committee in Sacramento will vote Tuesday on the legislation. Four members of that committee are from the Bay Area.
More than 50,000 people have died, and over a million have been injured by drunk drivers in the past 30 years in California alone.
