Last call: lawmakers hope new technology could mean the end to drunken driving.

• Author: Teigen, Anne

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Not too long ago it was common for party hosts to send their guests home with a "traveler" a paper cup with one last cocktail. Driving while drinking was commonplace and socially acceptable behavior.

In the early 1980s, just before Mothers Against Drunk Driving was founded, more than 21,000 people were killed every year in alcohol-related crashes.

Flash forward to 2009. Annual alcohol-related traffic crash fatalities are down to just under 12,000, thanks in part to public education campaigns and state laws enacted to penalize drunken drivers. Nonetheless, alcohol is still estimated to be a factor in nearly 32 percent of vehicle-related deaths.

Over the years, state legislatures have passed all kinds of laws with the goal of putting an end to drunken driving. Special courts have been established. All states have passed laws declaring that a blood alcohol level of .08 or higher constitutes driving under the influence. Law enforcement DUI checkpoints have been erected. Public education campaigns have been rolled out on major holidays.

The battle against drunken driving now is moving into a new phase. Ignition interlock devices are already in use in most states for repeat offenders or those with high blood alcohol content. The debate now in many states is whether or not to require the devices for all convicted drunken drivers. Traffic safety advocates are at odds on whether the research exists to support such policy, but advanced technology may make the debate irrelevant.

This new technology is now being seen as a more surefire way to keep intoxicated drivers off the road. And high-tech devices are being developed that could be installed in all new cars. The trend, however, is provoking debate because of the cost and the appropriateness of using such technology.

LOCKED OUT

Ignition interlock devices, installed in vehicles and connected to the starter system, detect alcohol in the breath and block power to the starter system if the driver is over a preset level, typically well below the illegal .08 legal limit. About 180,000 ignition interlocks are currently in use in the United States, usually mandated by the courts following a conviction for driving under the influence.

Forty-seven states have some form of ignition interlock law, 11 states require them for all offenders and seven others require them for repeat offenders or those whose blood alcohol level was .15 or higher when they were arrested. The rest of the states allow judicial discretion in requiring the interlock devices.

Research shows that when interlock devices are used, the likelihood of re-offending goes down by an average of 64 percent. An Illinois study found offenders who used the devices were 20 percent less likely to be arrested for drunken driving during the first year, compared to offenders without the device. Traffic safety experts caution that the rate of re-offending creeps back up to the rate of everyone else when the devices are removed.

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