Drunk drivers in Sanders County may soon hit new speed bump

Melissa Oyer

Valley Press

DUI offenders may soon hit a new speed bump. The Montana Community Change Project (MTCCP) stopped by the Sanders County courthouse Wednesday to preview a new device that may change the way drunk drivers are controlled.

Michelle Crill, from The MTCCP, was instructing Deputy County Attorney Amy Kenison how the device works and how instrumental and valuable it could be if put to use in Sanders County.

The Subaru Forester that David Madison, media specialist for the MTCCP, was driving was equipped with a new ignition interlock device. This device requires the driver to blow into a mouthpiece in order test for alcohol consumption before the car will start. If the person passes, the car starts. If the person fails, a note is documented into software in the device and the car will not start again until a probation officer has downloaded the software and the proper actions have been taken.

Current Montana law states that after the second DUI offense, a judge is required to seize the person’s vehicle or require them to install an interlock device.

According to the MTCCP Montana, courts only order a fraction of DUI offenders to install the interlock device.

Marty Humphreys, the Sanders County DUI Task Force Coordinator agrees that the device will do more for prevention than it will actually catching people driving drunk.

“If someone thinks there is a chance the device will randomly test them,” Humphreys said, “they may be less likely to get behind the wheel.”

The cost to lease the device is less than what it would cost to buy one drink a day for a year. For $900, the device can be leased and installed in an offender’s vehicles, but most choose to risk the second offense, rather than paying the fee.

MTCCP is driving through Western Montana to raise responsiveness for the effectiveness of the interlock system.

“We are changing the social norm for the way people view their offenses, actions and behavior,” Crill said. “This device is 95 percent effective and we will prove that it can in fact make a change.”

Organizers are hoping to generate more public support and awareness in support for the system, just in time for the judges’ conference on April 30 in Whitefish.

Gayle Seratt, Sanders County Preventions Specialist participated in a test of the device. Seratt consumed two miniature bottles of 35 proof alcohol, the equivalent to 3 drinks served from a responsible alcohol vendor, minutes before blowing into the device.

The results of her test proved that she was over the limit to drive intoxicated and the vehicle did not start.

“I feel great,” Seratt said. “This is my kind of workday.”

Although Seratt said she felt no effects of the alcohol, she was clearly over the legal limit to drive. That is exactly the point the project is trying to prove with the interlock device; that even though people may feel fine and not think they are ‘drunk’, they still have enough alcohol in their system to put them at risk of breaking the law.