Illinois To Get One Of Nation's Toughest DUI Laws

Steve Miller Reporting
CHICAGO (WBBM) -- On New Year's Day a tough new Illinois DUI law goes into effect that will force even a first-time offender to prove he's sober before his car will start.

Click Here Steve Miller's Audio From Story

This ignition locking system for first-time offenders had been imposed only on repeat offenders who have to prove they're not drinking by blowing into a Breathalyzer device.

What about attempts to outsmart the system - like the suburban man who kept an oxygen tank in his car?

Susan McKinney administers the program for the Illinois Secretary of State, and she says the system is fairly sophisticated.

"It requires that the person blow at the same time, or it requires a blow-suck-blow kind of pattern. Neither one of those things can be replicated with an air hose."

And McKinney says asking someone sober to blow into the device for you is a class A misdemeanor.

As you may have heard, Illinois is getting a tough new DUI law in January: Even a first-time DUI offender may not drive his car unless he blows into a Breathalyzer device that unlocks the ignition.

How secure is the system? WBBM's Steve Miller looks at that part of the story.

The question came up: Could a drunk driver potentially get a sober friend or relative to unlock the ignition?

"If you do blow into somebody's device or they blow into yours, if you're caught, you're both going to be guilty of a class A misdemeanor."

Susan McKinney, who administers the program for the Illinois Secretary of State, says even if somebody else starts your car, you wouldn't get very far.

"The devices are set to have what's called a rolling re-test. So I might be able to pay you to blow into my device to get my car started, but once I start off driving down the road, it's going to require that I blow again intermittently throughout my trip."

Drivers with even one DUI after January 1 - who want to continue driving - must buy the 15-hundred dollar ignition locking system.

01/02/2009 2:22PM

Cometcatcher

This is an unbelievable ripoff. Does the Governor have an interest in the company which manufactures this gizmo?

12/30/2008 11:36AM

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