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February 16, 2004

House Votes To Require Ignition Interlocks on Every N.M. Vehicle

By Deborah Baker
The Associated Press
   SANTA FE   —   Ignition interlocks would be required in every vehicle sold in New Mexico under a bill passed by the House on Monday.
    With just three days left in the 30-day legislative session, the bill headed to the Senate on a vote of 45-22.
    It would require the devices on new vehicles by 2008 and on used vehicles offered for sale by 2009.
    Ignition interlocks prevent vehicles from being started when the driver is drunk.
    "This bill would save lives," said Judiciary Committee Chairman W. Ken Martinez, D-Grants, the bill's sponsor.
    Martinez said ignition interlocks on every car, truck and commercial vehicle would shift the focus to preventing drunken driving, rather than punishing those who already have killed and injured others.
    Instead of criminalizing alcohol addiction, the proposal aims at modifying behavior, the lawmaker said.
    He estimated that by the time the law took effect, the devices would cost about $600 to install. In a separate bill, Martinez has proposed a tax credit to offset the cost.
    New Mexico already requires ignition interlocks for some convicted drunken drivers, but it would be the first state to order the devices installed in all vehicles.
    Opponents complained it would be costly and burdensome to businesses and to the vast majority of citizens, who obey the law.
    Rep. Daniel Foley, R-Roswell, objected that the proposal amounted to "holding everybody accountable for the mistakes of a few."
    "I have to question whether it's worth the money to put it on every car, when what you're doing is penalizing people who don't even drink," said Rep. Eric Youngberg, R-Corrales.
    Martinez said New Mexicans are "already paying for DWI deaths in New Mexico" with emergency room costs and the price of prosecuting and imprisoning offenders.
    The lawmaker said national and statewide statistics indicate a drunken driver typically has driven drunk hundreds of times before he's caught.
    "We're leaving a huge segment of DWI drivers out when we wait until after they're convicted," Martinez said.
    Rep. Ray Begaye, D-Shiprock, said requiring the devices would complement the stiffer penalties and treatment requirements the state already has enacted.
    He said the devices would make sense in the area of the Navajo reservation, where liquor sales are prohibited and people typically drive up to 60 miles round trip on weekends to buy liquor.
    "There has to be some kind of behavioral modification," Begaye said.
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    The ignition interlock bill is HB126.