In just a week from now, drivers in Los Angeles who been convicted of drunk driving will have to get a breathalyzer device installed in their car, to prevent them from driving drunk again. It's a law that Los Angeles personal injury lawyers have supported, although the beverage industry and the DUI attorney lobby has not been too impressed.Los Angeles County is among four counties, including Sacramento, Alameda and Tulare, where the new law will soon go into effect. Implementation of the law begins on July 1st. All convicted drunk driving offenders are required to have breathalyzer devices installed on the dashboard. The device will detect the amount of alcohol the person has imbibed, and prevent the car from starting. It essentially shuts the engine down, and prevents the driver from driving off in an intoxicated state.
The bill has been controversial since it was signed last year by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. All first-time drunk driving offenders under the law will be required to have the device installed. The cost of installing the device will be borne by the offender. The pilot program is one of several measures that the state of California has taken to prevent the kind of injuries and deaths that result from alcohol-related car accidents. The program will stay in effect until 2015, after which there'll be a review of the program. If the review finds that the program has been successful in further reducing drunk driving rates, then it will be expanded throughout the state of California.
In 2008, more than 1,000 people were killed in the state of California in alcohol-related car accidents. That number was a substantial improvement from years past, and it has not been through popular laws that we have been able to make such dramatic achievements in motorist safety.
Los Angeles drunk driving accident attorneys will not have any illusions that this law will be welcomed by sections of the population and vested interests. Much of the criticism leveled against it “unfairly” targets first-time offenders. However, there is enough evidence to show that first time offenders who get off lightly are more likely to drive drunk again. This law targets precisely such drivers. 1,000 lives every year is not an insignificant number, and this law will help reduce those numbers further.
