politics

For the next two years, some convicted drunken drivers won't be able to start their vehicles if they have been drinking.

A law signed this week by Gov. Tim Pawlenty will require that their vehicles be equipped with an ignition interlock device to prevent them from drinking and driving again. It expands a pilot project that has been underway in Hennepin County since 2007 as part of the county's DWI Court.

It was passed unanimously by both the House and the Senate and follows the lead of a handful of other states that have made the interlock devices a mandatory condition for convicted drunken drivers to keep their licenses.

The devices require a driver to blow and pass a breath-alcohol analysis before the car will start.

Participants in the DWI Courts, in both Hennepin and Beltrami counties, can get their licenses back sooner with the devices on their vehicles, as long as they have met other requirements, including sobriety and attending court appointments.

In the current system, participants pay an estimated $5 a day it costs to operate the devices. The new law doesn't specify how the devices will be paid for statewide, leaving the administration up to the Department of Public Safety.

Nobody thinks ignition interlock will radically reduce drunken driving, given that roughly two out of three tagged in the state are first-time offenders. But because about 8,000 drunken driving arrests are made every year in Hennepin County, it could help.

Under the law, Minnesotans whose licenses are revoked because of a drunken-driving conviction must agree to drive only a car equipped with the interlock. The department will determine how long drivers must operate their vehicles under the restriction.

The program will run for two years, starting July 1. The law directs the commissioner to send reports to the legislative committees that have jurisdiction over criminal justice policy . The reports must evaluate the successes and failures of the pilot project, provide information on participation rates, and make recommendations on continuing the project.

Bob von Sternberg • 612-673-7184