More breath devices may curb offenses

They are a key weapon in the fight against drunken driving, and next year a lot more of them will be on the roads.

A tough new state law enacted this month will require everyone convicted of misdemeanor or felony DWI to spend at least six months driving with an ignition interlock device that requires them to blow a breath free of alcohol before a car will start.

That requirement will come after they finish any jail or prison time and regain their driver's licenses.

The new legislation - Leandra's Law - is perhaps better known for its first clause, making it a felony to drive while drunk with a child passenger. But its mandate for more widespread use of in-car breath analyzers brings the devices to center stage.

"Now it will begin with the first arrest," said Carole Sears, president of the Westchester chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving and a strong supporter of the law. "It's not as if people will figure, "˜Well, I have another chance, next time I'll worry about it.' I really believe that this is going to save lives."

Interlocks have been used for years - the Westchester County probation department currently monitors 162 people who must use them, county Probation Commissioner Rocco Pozzi said. But generally, judges decide whether to require them.

Their use will multiply late next year when the law kicks in, 270 days from Nov. 18, when Gov. David Paterson signed it.

Westchester supervises a total of 1,704 people on probation for drunken driving, Pozzi said. Of those, 602 were convicted of felonies, generally because they were repeat offenders.

But not everyone is sold on the new law. Some argue it takes discretion out of the judge's hands.

"Any law that removes discretion from the sentencing judge is an encumbrance upon judicial independence," said Marvin Raskin, a Yorktown resident and former president of the Bronx County Bar Association. "It takes away the opportunity to mete out justice and instills in its place a legislative mandate by politicians who have no clue what day it is."

The American Probation and Parole Association and the American Beverage Institute suggest an alternate set of rules that would allow a judge to decide whether to order the device if a first-time drunken driver's blood-alcohol content is between the legal limit of .08 percent and .15 percent. The device would still be mandatory for repeat offenders, no matter what the blood alcohol level.

Those with the higher blood-alcohol levels "are the hard-core offenders who cause the vast majority of alcohol-related fatalities," ABI managing director Sarah Longwell said.

The law was named for 11-year-old Leandra Rosado, who died in October when riding in a car with a drunken driver who crashed in Manhattan. It also follows Long Island mother Diane Schuler's July 26 crash on the Taconic State Parkway that killed eight, including Schuler and four children.

An autopsy showed her blood-alcohol level was .19 percent and she was high on marijuana.

"These recent cases certainly, I think, precipitated the change right now," said Rockland District Attorney Thomas Zugibe. "But I don't think it's just a reaction. I think it's been coming for some time."

Carl Wicklund, executive director of the probation and parole association, said that, even though people ordered to use the devices must pay for them, the increase in their use will add costs to probation offices that must review the data taken from the machines.

"We could be taking their attention away from domestic-violence offenders or burglars or car thieves or gang members," he said.

Pozzi said the department has not yet calculated how much it will cost to administer the expanded use of the devices.

"It's a good law," Pozzi said. "I think everybody is in agreement that we have to do as much as we can with this population."

In Westchester, the person using the device is required to pay $75 for its installation plus $75 a month for its use, he said.

Andrew Schwartz, supervising probation officer with the Rockland probation department, said added staff power may be needed, but that it appeared to be worth it.

"Anything you can do to stop people from driving drunk is a good thing," he said. "We'll see how it turns out, but I think it's doable."

Putnam County Probation Director Gene Funicelli said the idea was good "in concept" but that "we'll have to see how it plays out" in administering the rule.

The ABI said the devices are not always reliable, sometimes giving a "false positive" and preventing a car from starting.

Tom Grogan, national sales director for Interceptor Ignition Interlocks, acknowledged that any interlock can give a false reading, but said it is not common.

It can be set off by someone who just rinsed with mouthwash, for instance. In those cases, however, the driver need only wait five to 10 minutes and blow again. Generally, whatever caused the faulty reading will have dissipated by then, he said.

Interceptor, with offices in Pawling and on Long Island, is one of three companies Westchester's probation department uses for the devices.

Probation officials said the technology is improving to help stop problems such as a drunken driver asking a sober person to blow into the device.

The devices require the driver to continue to blow into it at regular or random intervals. If it does not get an alcohol-free breath, the car's horn will sound and the lights will flash.

Grogan said his company offers one that uses a camera to photograph the interior of the car, showing who is blowing on the device.

Sears, the MADD chapter president, questioned why a sober person would help a drunken one fool an interlock anyway.

"What kind of idiot, knowing that you have such an alcohol problem that you need that, would blow into it and sit in the car with you while you're driving?" she asked.