Du Quoin Police Made 58 DUI Arrests in 2008

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[ Du Quoin Police Department officers made 58 DUI arrests in 2008, added to similar numbers from the files of the Perry County Sheriff's Department, Pinckneyville police and Illinois State Police at Du Quoin.

Motorists convicted of driving drunk will have to install breath-monitoring gadgets in their cars under new laws taking effect in six states this week.

The ignition interlocks prevent engines from starting until drivers blow into the alcohol detectors to prove they're sober.

Alaska, Colorado, Illinois, Nebraska and Washington state began Jan. 1 requiring the devices on all motorists convicted of first-time drunken driving. South Carolina began Thursday requiring them for repeat offenders.

Mothers Against Drunk Driving has been conducting a nationwide campaign to mandate ignition locks for anyone convicted of drunken driving, claiming doing so would save thousands of lives. In a 2008 report that's critical of Maine's laws to curb impaired drivers, MADD cited the state's discretionary, rather than mandatory, ignition interlock device law.

Legislation passed in Maine last year allows license reinstatement for a person with repeat drunk driving offenses if the driver installs and uses an interlock device for a required period of time.

Critics say interlocks could lead to measures that restrict alcohol policies too much.

Users must pay for the fist-sized devices, which in Illinois cost around $80 to install on dashboards and $80 a month to rent; there's also a $30 monthly state fee. They also require periodic retesting while the car is running.

"It's amazingly inconvenient," said David Malham, of the Illinois chapter of MADD. "But the flip side of the inconvenience is death."

Other states with similar laws include New Mexico, Arizona and Louisiana. Most other states give judges the option of forcing convicted drunk drivers to use the devices. In practice though, they are rarely ordered unless laws mandate them, according to MADD.

Until now, that's been true in Illinois, said MADD national CEO Chuck Hurley.

"Illinois has excellent law enforcement," he said. "But the judicial system leaks like a sieve. This law will change the catch and release system to one where people are at least caught and tagged."

In Illinois, the interlocks are mandated only for the five to 11 months licenses are suspended with a first DUI. Drivers can opt not to install them, but then would be banned from driving at all during the suspension period.

Motorists in Colorado get a similar choice - install the devices or get a longer suspension.

The law taking effect in Washington state actually relaxes penalties on drunk drivers, allowing them to avoid a previously mandatory license suspension by getting an interlock. The bill's author, Rep. Roger Goodman, said too many motorists were driving with suspended licenses.

Motorists could try to skirt the devices by, say, having someone else blow into detector or driving someone else's car. But if caught trying to circumvent the interlocks, they could go to jail.

Within a year, up to 30,000 first-time offenders in Illinois could be using them, state officials estimate.

Not everyone is as enthusiastic.

One of the staunchest critics of interlock laws for first-time offenders is the Washington, D.C.-based American Beverage Institute, a trade association representing restaurants and retailers.

ABI managing director Sarah Longwell said the group backs interlock laws targeting repeat offenders and those arrested with high blood-alcohol levels.

But she said laws advocated by MADD don't allow judges to distinguish between those who have a few drinks and go just over the 0.08 blood-alcohol legal limit and those who go way over.

Proponents of interlock laws say studies back their approach. They cite a 2008 study by the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation that found interlock devices in New Mexico helped decrease repeat offenses by approximately two-thirds.

MADD also points to figures showing one-third of all drunk drivers have a prior DUI conviction.