In the News

By: Dan Prochilo

A Long Island congresswoman on Tuesday announced plans to introduce a bill in Washington requiring U.S. automakers to equip all new cars with devices preventing them from taking off if the driver is drunk.

Rep. Kathleen Rice (D-4) will push Congress to pass legislation mandating that new cars have ignition interlock devices that can detect drivers' blood-alcohol content and prevent the engine from starting up if the motorists' BAC exceeds the legal limit.

Those devices are often required under a court order for convicted drunk drivers, but Rice said they should be universal.

A recent University of Michigan study found that requiring interlock technology in new vehicles across the board would prevent 85 percent of drunk driving-related deaths over a 15-year period, the congresswoman said.

The requirement would also cut back on 84 to 89 percent of drunk driving-related injuries, she said, citing the study.

Preventing those deaths and injuries would save around $343 billion over 15 years, Rice said.

The study revealed that the mandate would prevent roughly 481,100 deaths and injuries among drivers between 21 and 29, according to the congresswoman.

Drunk drivers are responsible for killing 10,000 people on the road every year, Rice said.

“Advancing the progress we’ve made combating drunk driving demands bold action,” she said in a release Tuesday.

As Nassau County district attorney, Rice secured Long Island's first DWI-related murder convictions and led a statewide overhaul of New York's drunk-driving laws. She recently received a lifetime achievement award from the nonprofit Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

"Strict enforcement is important, holding drunk drivers accountable is important, but we can and must do more to stop drunk drivers from ever hitting the road in the first place," the lawmaker stated. "This technology saves lives, it saves money, and I’m going to fight to make it standard equipment in American cars.”

A spokesman for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers — a group of a dozen car makers including Ford, General Motors Co., BMW, Toyota and others — said the alliance conceptually supports interlock devices for first-time drunk driving offenders. But he said late Tuesday that the organization would need to review Rice's proposed law further before weighing in on it.