Back to the Drawing Board for Interlock Devices

In 2001 Pennsylvania passed a law requiring convicted drunk drivers to install ignition interlock devices on their vehicles, but when the Commonwealth Court balked at enforcing the law, the effort failed.

The problem with the 2001 law was that it placed the burden of requiring a driver to comply with the interlock act on the sentencing judge, according to the York Daily Record, and the judges said they could not enforce the law outside their local jurisdictions.

The Pennsylvania Senate passed a bill earlier this week that they hope will eliminate the shortcomings of the 2001 law. Instead of making the interlock devices a part of the sentencing by the courts, it gives the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) the authority to direct convicted drunk drivers to have an interlock installed as a condition of having driving privileges restored.

The new law sets criminal penalties of up to $1,000 and an additional one year license suspension for violations of the interlock device law.
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