Pennsylvania To Extend Ignition Locks Law To First Time Offenses!

The Senate passed the measure unanimously Wednesday!

The House passed the bill Monday after several years of work to expand Pennsylvania’s 2003 law that requires repeat drunk-driving offenders to use Ignition Interlocks for one year.

Under the bill, a first-time convicted drunk driver with an illegal blood alcohol concentration between .10 percent and .15 percent could avoid the one-year license suspension they face now, by applying for a new "ignition interlock license." That would let them continue to be able to drive to work, school, or maybe just get a bag of groceries as long as they use the breath-testing devices that prevent engine ignition if the driver's breath test measures above a certain BAC standard.

Based on 2015 arrest data, the expansion would extend interlock usage to more than 90 percent of all DUI-alcohol offenders in Pennsylvania, or more than 30,000 people annually.

Supporters of expanded use of interlocks have argued that they are one important piece of a multi-layered fight that has been successful in driving down drunk-driving crashes and fatalities.

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