Peer Pressure and Voluntary Ignition Interlock Installations

There is something to be said for those among us who stand up and offer to help keep the world a safe place. Like the “everyday hero” who volunteers to install an ignition interlock on their vehicle. Much like a portable security system of sorts, an ignition interlock device ensures the rest of us that the driver is sober and not a danger on the roads. That’s one kind of hero we can all get behind.

When you think about it, drunk driving is a 100% preventable crime, yet, sober drivers still end up paying the price for another’s choice to drink and drive. We are rear-ended by drunk drivers, or pay the taxes that send paramedics to the scene of a DUI. Lives are forever changed by a person’s decision to hit the road after a night at a bar, but, the heroes among us can easily take back our safety with a voluntary ignition interlock installation.

• Making ignition interlock devices common among safe drivers helps weed out those who may choose to drink and drive.
• Ignition interlock devices are seen as punitive, and court-related. With a voluntary installation, you’re “normalizing” sober driving.
• Sober driving is cool and so are ignition interlock devices.

Even as more states adopt all-offender ignition interlock requirements, the devices cannot stop a person from driving while intoxicated until they’re installed on a vehicle. That leaves plenty of chances for a drunk driver to destroy lives. Even though we all have the right to choose whether to voluntarily install an ignition interlock before any court-related consequences, none of us can choose whether we will be hurt by a drunk driver. But, when we do make that choice to use an interlock, we are showing any would-be DUI offender a commitment to sober driving, and hoping they make the same choice, too.