Bill: Make DUI offenders prove sobriety

Device would prevent vehicle from starting if driver was drinking.

The Florida Legislature is considering a bill requiring anyone convicted of DUI to install a device preventing a vehicle from starting if the driver has been drinking.

The law’s proponents say it would save countless lives, an assertion that no one disputes.

As it stands now in Florida, only drivers who register a blood-alcohol level of 0.15 or higher and repeat DUI offenders are required to use what’s called an ignition-interlock mechanism. In most cases, the breath-test device won’t allow a vehicle to start if the driver blows anything beyond 0.025, a little less than one-third the legal limit of 0.08.

Drunk-driving crashes and fatalities have become epidemic in the state. From 2014 to 2015, alcohol-impaired driving fatalities increased 14.8 percent in Florida, compared with 3.2 percent nationally. The statewide jump accounted for a rise of 103 DUI-related deaths from 2014 to a total of 797.