It Wasn’t Me: Your Friend “Blew” Your Interlock

You’re at a party with friends, and you’ve already gotten one drunk driving conviction under your belt. Since you know you made a bad choice with that, you’ve already prepared yourself to stay sober and drive home completely in compliance. You don’t really have a choice, actually, since your ignition interlock won’t let you drive if you’ve been drinking… and at first, that’s not a big deal.

Then, you figure one drink won’t hurt. Sure, you’ll do a shot with friends. The next thing you know, you realize you are buzzed and your ignition interlock stands in your way of making a quick escape home. It’s a good thing you’ve got friends around that can help you out, right?

Yes, as long as those friends don’t attempt to “blow” your ignition interlock test.

If you aren’t the person submitting a breath sample into your interlock, you are in violation of your agreement with the court or DMV. The devices have a system that continues to monitor your blood alcohol concentration (BAC) level the entire time you are driving, which means that you will be prompted for another “blow” so you can stay on the go. Many ignition interlock devices also have cameras and GPS capabilities to verify that the person submitting the sample is the person who should be blowing into the device and where they did the test. If those photos don’t match, you’ve blown your test… and not in a good way. Either way, you don’t want to blow your ignition interlock test; you’ve already come so far!

It can be hard to decline a drink with your friends and as long as you have a safe way to get home, you don’t have to worry about your ignition interlock. Once you’ve gotten the requirement, you get to model the behaviors needed to keep you away from another drunk driving conviction, whether that’s not drinking, or calling a taxi to get you home. No matter what, remember that you’re the one who “blows” your test when your friend submits a sample… and you’re the one who will end up in more trouble than you want.