This device could help prevent drunk driving, but it's not commonly used here

Technology to keep people from drinking and driving has proven helpful to some, but Bibb County officials say it is sparsely used here and does little to curb DUI-related crashes.

Interlock ignition devices look a little like 1990s-era car phones. They are wired into an automobile’s starting system. Users must blow into the device and pass a breath test. If they don’t, their car won’t crank.

“If it detects any sort of alcohol at all, it will not let you start the vehicle,” said Timber Spence, a technician for LifeSafer, a private company that sells and manages the devices.

To prevent a sober person from giving a breath sample for someone else to start their car, Spence said the device will randomly beep to signal additional breath tests during the trip.

The results of every breath test are recorded on a digital log in the device, which costs about $700 plus installation. Users must also pay $75 to $100 monthly to have the device log checked and its results sent to a driver’s probation officer, Spence said.

Should an impaired driver fail the breath test on the road, the car won’t shut down for safety reasons, but it will be temporarily disabled when it is turned off, Spence said.

In Georgia, drivers convicted of a second DUI within five years have been mandated since 2013 to have the ignition interlock devices for six months to a year, depending on when the person was convicted.

There were 21 traffic fatalities in Bibb last year, a third of them alcohol-related, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. That is in line with national statistics, which show 30 percent of the 35,092 fatalities last year involved alcohol.

DUI penalties locally have gotten harsher over the years, sheriff’s Lt. Brad Wolfe said.

“Our society is really accepting of drinking — go out to eat and have some drinks with dinner,” Wolfe said. “Like they always say, there’s no tax in America more expensive than a DUI.”

The penalty for a first DUI conviction in Bibb includes a four-month license suspension, a year on probation, 24 hours in jail, a $1,000 fine plus probation costs and participation in an alcohol-drug risk reduction program.

The devices are “not real, real common in Bibb,” Wolfe said. “As far as curtailing DUI driving as a whole, it really doesn’t have an effect because it only addresses one driver.”

Spencer said the LifeSafer office on Columbus Road serves a little more than 100 people. It is one of two businesses certified to sell the devices here, according to the company.

Attorney Ann Parman, who specializes in DUI cases, said she hasn’t had a lot of clients who’ve had to use interlock ignition devices.

“The clients that I’ve had to have to use them did a very good job. I did not have any problems,” said Parman, who has practiced in Macon since 1991. “I do think they’re effective.”

About 1 in 25 people convicted of DUI here end up using the interlock ignition device, Macon-Bibb Solicitor General Rebecca Grist said.

“The problem is that there are a vast number of DUIs that are DUI (and) drugs, and testing someone’s breath doesn’t have anything to do with DUI-drugs,” Grist said. “A person whose choice of drug is Xanax could be under the influence all day long and never have their ignition interlock prevent them from driving.”

In plenty cases, the mandatory use of the devices is waived for DUI offenders who can show the court that they can’t afford it, Grist said.

This story was originally published September 4, 2016 at 8:10 PM with the headline "This device could help prevent drunk driving, but it's not commonly used here."