Affording a Taxi is Much Easier than Affording an Ignition Interlock Device

Everyone worries about money from time to time, but what happens if you’ve spent too much at the bar and now you’re faced with driving yourself home… while intoxicated? You may think you’re okay to drive, and that you can get around any sobriety checkpoints or just be extra cautious. But, you could be looking a lot more trouble than if you had just called a taxi to get you back home safely, like a bigger financial commitment to your sobriety.

All states currently have ignition interlock requirements for drunk driving convictions. This means that you could be required to install and maintain an interlock in order to restore your driving privileges. While the costs associated with the devices vary by state, it’s a pretty good guess that they’ll be more than you would have paid for a taxi to take you home. Plus, on top of the ignition interlock, you’re looking at court costs, fines and fees you may be required to pay your department of motor vehicles, higher insurance premiums and more. All in all, your choice to drink and drive just cost you about $10,000, and you could have paid $10 to get home safely in the back of a cab.

Of course, not everyone gets caught drinking and driving their first time. You could be one of those people who has driven while intoxicated about 80 times before being arrested for drunk driving. That means, however, you’ve put your life and the lives of others in danger that many times – leading you into no choice but to commit to an ignition interlock, and the entire financial impact of your drunk driving conviction. When you choose a taxi or other safe ride home, you are acting personally and financially responsible for yourself, and for those who could be in the path of your intoxicated driving. At the end of the night, it just makes more sense to avoid the ignition interlock device, and not worry about how to afford it.