With sobriety checkpoint use, a child endangerment law, no-refusal activities, and administrative license revocation for drunk driving offenders, Delaware is tough on drunk drivers. The only thing keeping the state from receiving the highest rating Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) gives to states for the quality of their drunk driving laws, as outlined in its Campaign to Eliminate Drunk Driving: 2014 Report to the Nation, is an all-offender ignition interlock law.
MADD is currently urging Delaware lawmakers to pass such a law this year, and there’s a good chance of that happening. Currently, two laws are working their way through the Delaware legislature. If passed, all convicted drunk drivers would be required to install an ignition interlock device in their vehicles. Under current law, installation is only required for first-time offenders with a blood alcohol content (BAC) of 0.15 and repeat offenders.
If Delaware passes the laws, the state will qualify for additional highway safety money from the federal government under the latest federal highway law. Delaware will also become the 21st state to require ignition interlocks for all convicted drunk drivers, reduce drunk driving, and save lives. According to MADD, other states with all-offender ignition interlock laws have reduced drunk driving-related fatalities by more than 30% since enacting the law.
Though the proposed legislations are still in the workshop phase and will need tweaking until they are merged into one bill, Delaware lawmakers are projected to vote on the bills this year, and both MADD and the bills’ sponsors are hopeful that it will pass.