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An Ignition Interlock In Every Car?
ryeguy-nm writes "Monday the New Mexico House of Representatives passed a bill that would require every car sold in the state to have an ignition interlock. This device is essentially a breath analyzer that prevents the car from being started if the driver is drunk. The bill would require that every new car sold be equipped with an ignition interlock by 2008 and every used car by 2009. Ignition interlocks require a breath test, which takes 30 seconds to complete, to start the car as well as random 'rolling retests' to discourage others from taking the test for you. These rolling retests require the driver to take the test as the car is moving. If the driver fails a retest, the horn sounds and the lights flash until the car is turned off. The bill's lead proponent is Dem. Ken Martinez who believes the bill is a quick fix for New Mexico's drunk driving problems. Opponents of the bill argue that it penalizes car dealerships and law abiding citizens who have never driven drunk. The bill makes no mention of who will have to pay for the device, but it will most likely be auto dealers and citizens who have to sell their cars. It seems to me that impinging upon the liberty of an entire state is a little bit too extreme. Perhaps tougher penalties and larger fines for people who actually drive drunk would be a better idea."
They could have asked for rolling urine samples and performance anxiety would have cleared the roads of cars.
There's NO WAY to blow air into a tube wihout it coming from a human lung. Billows do not exist. And these things are so inexpensive, they can put two or three in each car, to make sure the passengers are sober too!
Wait, none of that is true.
What the story doesn't mention is the Special Edition model for bishops and politicians. When they fail a drunk test, a HUD shows up on the windshield and locks on to pedestrians. Makes life a LOT easier, let me tell you.
REM Old programmers don't die. They just GOSUB without RETURN.
but, but, what about all those movie scenes where's it the middle of the night, and the woman desperately tries to start her car, while the stalker is running towards her. I'm sure that the 30 second breath test will be the death of large numbers of movie babes...
"No officer, she wasn't taking my breathalyzer for me. She was just giving me road head."
OddManIn: A Game of guns and game theory.
While we're at it, can we have a device which detects whether slashdot readers are on crack and refuses to give them mod points if they are?
These sigs are more interesting tha
So, when Indians get drunk and drive home, it is significantly harder than it is, say, for me when I have too much at the BW3 5 minutes away.
*Ride* home you mean, I presume. Indeed it's hard to retrofit an ignition interlock to a horse.
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
How bout a baloon knot full of air after a lunch at El Torito?
A recent (?) episode of Myth Busters proved that brushing one's teeth (or, in New Mexico, tooth) and using mouthwash does not affect the validity of a breath test.
Bark less. Wag more.
I dont drink and drive so obviously this has no appeal to me.
Substantial delay in starting your own car plus random distracton while driving has no appeal to you?
Population New Mexico: 1,829,146
Estimated 1 out of every 5 people are drivers
Estimate each driver starts car approximately 4 times
Time wasted from drivers waiting for 30 sec to take stupid test: 12194 hours
And I thought I wasted time!
I've often wanted and required one of these placed on my mobile phone, simply for those post drinking sessions moments when it seems like an ideal moment to call my ex.
It would certainly prevent those next day conversations when she calls you up wondering exactly what you were trying to say/sing on her answering machine.
There is a N E W Mexico?
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
You're right. It should do periodic test of your ability to focus by playing the sound of a baby crying in the back seat and checking that your steering doesn't become erratic.
There should also be a periodic eye exam for older drivers where an eye chart drops down in front of the driver and they have to read off the bottom row.
Its clearly the auto makers who are at fault in every accident by letting unqualified drivers operate their cars.
fill it before you start drinking of course
I have a can of compressed air that say's this test will become useless before it's even implimented.
I've hit Karma 50 and gotten a Score:5, Troll... I win!
We've all seen the movies....woman running from maniac with a pickaxe gets into her car and starts fumbling with the keys. Then the car won't start until after about two good pickaxe shots throught the roof.
.
Now, on top of everything else, she's got to manage to breath into a tube between screams of terror.
.
yup, great day to be a homicidal maniac.
A goal is a dream with a deadline
then only outlaws will have balloons
--Drunk as in Beer
Ever wonder why New Mexico's license plates are yellow?
fuck you.
Put balloon under arm to warm it.
> A recent (?) episode of Myth Busters
OT: That show rocks. It's the new "junkyard wars" except those two are insane and like to destroy things.
I watched the episode this week where they tried to prove/disprove that cellphones caused gas station explosions. When that obviously didn't work, they turned to the theory that women's panties built up static electricity as the source of ignition. They built a leyden jar and charged it by rubbing a pair of panties on a length of pvc, and then discharged it it a lexan booth filled with gas/air mixture.
BOOM! The one guy had all the hair on one side of his face singed off. They also microwaved CD's and spun them at crazy speeds to see what point they shattered (to explore the myth that 52x readers cause disks to shatter). Hell, we used to do stuff like this is my Dad's garage, but no one ever offered _us_ a TV show!
I missed the one with the breathalyzer though (should never have showed the kids how to manipulate the season pass on the TiVo -- I got "Totally Spies" instead of that episode).
There is much cruelty in the universe, John.
Yeah, we seem to have the tour map.
Why would these representatives care if their chauffeur was inconvenienced?
Ooh, a sarcasm detector. Oh, that's a real useful invention.
Get rid of alcohol. It worked for drugs. Hell I haven't heard anything about drug usage since Nancy Regan started her "Just Say No" campaign. Too bad GWBush didn't read the papers back then.
Me: Vroom! Vroom! Yee-haa, 250km/h! *pop open a cold one to celebrate* *glug glug glug*
Car: Sir, time for a rolling re-test!
(cue: honker breathalyzer tube falling from the ceiling)
*whap!* Smack in the face!
Me: Eek!
Car: Screeech! WHAM! *flip* *roll* *bounce bounce bounce* *BOOM!* (Car explodes in kindergarten playground off shoulder of autobahn, splattering passer-bys with bits of 3-year-olds)
Me: Ooogh. Pain.
Onlooker: Well, at least he's not a traffic hazard anymore.
Sign me up...
Cole's Law: Thinly sliced cabbage
New Mexico has periodic (annual, IIRC) vehicle safety inspections. If your interlock were disabled, you wouldn't get your inspection sticker and couldn't legally drive your car.
How is the guy who tests if the interlock is working going to drive home?
Yes but once all the drunk drivers are taken care of the insurance premiums will come down. Yes ? Sorry what am I thinking
"as well as random 'rolling retests' to discourage others from taking the test for you. These rolling retests require the driver to take the test as the car is moving. If the driver fails a retest, the horn sounds and the lights flash until the car is turned off"
Wouldn't these rolling retests be at least as distracting as using a cellphone while driving?
www.facebook.com/DareDefendOurRights
www.fairtax.org
Cool. A big brother surveillance device has just been implanted with a "save the children" angle. Do they use 1984 as a manual?
Anyone else see the South Park episode with "IT"? :-) Looks like the controls are gaining popularity.
Changing your own batteries? What are you, a communist? :-D
If certain drinking establishments had a breathalizer I'd guess there would be a high score sheet next to it.
Degaussing scares the bad magnetism out of the monitor and fills it with good karma.
If you wanna drive drunk, get your buddy to blow in the tube. What's so hard about that!?
So this thing is useless. Hell, it might promote homosexuality; You and your friends are drinking one time, chilling. It's time to go home. You're plastered. You go, "Hey dude, gimmie a blow. I gotta go home." The friend says, "Sure," and, well, hopefully he gives your car a blow, not you.
Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
Ignition interlocks require a breath test, which takes 30 seconds to complete...
Can you imagine the car chases in movies? Good guy jumps in through the open window... fumbles with the keys as the bad guy is getting closer... puts the key in the ignition... BEEP! PLEASE BREATHE INTO THE STEERING WHEEL AND WAIT 30 SECONDS! BEEP!
Wer mit Ungeheuern kämpft, mag zusehn, dass er nicht dabei zum Ungeheuer wird. --Nietzsche
Damn... I should've used that last week. I _definitely_ would've gotten out of jury duty.
"Sometimes a woman is a kind of religion, she can save your soul & set you free from all your sins" - Bad Examples
Loutish, drunken behavior is a serious problem on public transit. Just wait until they fit these devices on the buses...
GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak
Now change the situation. It's -10 F outside, and you want to start your car to warm it up, then run back inside. That's right, that remote starter you were so thrilled to get for Christmas is useless now.
Yep, those famous New Mexico winters.
Ah yes, but having the DUI limit at almost twice the lethal dose makes it so much easier to spot them.
404 Not Found: No such file or resource as '.sig'
The way to stop this kind of stuff is to pass a law stating that anyone who introduces and supports a new law like this has to abide by it for 1 year if it _doesn't_ pass.
In this case, the group of people and politicians who supported it would have to get this breathalizer installed and use it for one year. I bet they'd think things through a bit more the next time they got a harebrained idea.
Of course, this post is a harebrained idea too...
At least if he's president someone else will be driving most of the time.
Stephen
"Don't write down to your readers, the only people less intelligent than you can't read" - Sign on Newspaper Office Wall
I mean seriously, this is NEW MEXICO. And if anyone has a history of a DUI, it's our President. Get over yourself.
Heute die Welt, morgen das Sonnensystem!
This would pretty much change horror/thriller/action movies forever as running to a car for an escape would no longer be an option due to the 30 second wait.
Seriously though, sometimes you need to start your car and GO! This would pretty much screw you in such a situation. Would probably also lead to higher auto theft due to people leaving their cars running while swinging in to the bank or 7-11.
You forgot more sex with hotter women in there, but maybe that comes with the richer/better-looking in a package deal...I wouldn't know.
When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.
The next version will require you to pee into a urine-testing device before your car will start. Make sure you drink lots of water while driving so you can pass all of the "rolling retests." The upside is that you will no longer need to stop to at rest areas on long trips :)
Drunken Man: Honey... sit closer to the wheel and blow me... I mean blow for me!
I think this is a splendid idea! But here's an even better one: The "rolling retest" feature should only activate when the driver is trying to concentrate on changing lanes, or making an emergency maneuver to avoid an accident, or some other situation in which a retest would be really dangerous. Upon activation of the rolling retest, the steering wheel would suddenly veer in some random direction while the throttle is opened all the way and the pedals and shifter are disabled and do not function. Also, explosives mounted under the car, as used in filming automotive stunts, would cause the car to flip over, especially if the driver was NOT drunk and had never, ever driven drunk. Yeah. That would make driving safer for everyone.
This is so stupid that legislators in California are wondering why they didn't think of it first!
If you've had 1 to 4 drinks, it prevents your car from starting. But if you're really drunk, it automatically drives your car to your ex's house!
"Freedom means freedom for everybody" -- Dick Cheney
Also, to a lesser extent, people who have to take up to and extra 30 seconds to start up a car, but don't have that luxury due to an emergency (hospital, flight out of fear, etc.)
If you're being chased by a serial killer, a death squad or some monster, that car was never going to start in the first 30 seconds anyway.
Compressed breath in a can - I'll make millions! :)