Assemblymember Cottie Petrie-Norris (D-Irvine) was flanked by Senator Bob Archuleta (D-Pico Rivera), Sacramento County District Attorney Thien Ho, and a host of safety advocates and traffic enforcement officers to announce the introduction of A.B. 366, the Save Lives with Every Start bill.
“This is an urgent call to action,” said Petrie-Norris. “This bill we’re introducing today is a chance to save lives.”
A.B. 366 requires that anyone convicted of drunk driving have to pass a breathalyzer or ignition interlock device (IID) test before starting a vehicle. Vehicles owned by a person found guilty of a DUI would also be required to pay for the installation of an IID in any vehicle that they own. Current law requires anyone convicted of multiple drunk driving offences to install an IID and pass a test before driving. However, even that law is set to expire at the end of this year.
Eight of the ten cities with the highest rates of drunk driving in America are located in California : Bakersfield, Fresno, San Diego, Long Beach, Oakland, Sacramento, Los Angeles, and San Jose. Petrie-Norris attributes some of that to lax state laws regarding drunk driving. For example, thirty five states mandate IID’s be used for drivers after their first drunk driving offense.
Archuleta is co-author of the piece and will guide the legislation through the Senate as Petrie-Norris does the same in the Assembly. He told a more personal story as he who tragically lost his grandchild to a drunk driver over the holidays.
“Lives are taken across the nation every single day,” Archuleta said of traffic violence in California before recounting his family’s story.
“As some of you may know, my own granddaughter…listen to me, my own granddaughter was killed by a drunk driver over the holidays. Whatever you were doing on Christmas Eve, (we were) decorating our tree… We got the news. My wife and I and we drove to Victorville crying all the way. Was it true? Was it really true?”
Sadly, it was true.
Since the crash that killed his granddaughter, Archuleta and his family have become outspoken about the need to eliminate drunk driving. His daughter founded a chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving in Victorville while he urged people to think of the consequences of driving after drinking in the days before New Years Eve, one of the deadliest days to be on the road of the entire year.
While personal responsibility and a culture change in how people view drunk driving is needed, District Attorney Ho argued that mandatory IID’s are also part of the solution to California’s drunk driving epidemic.
“In states where those laws are in place, where every individual, whether you have one DUI, two or three, have to have an addiction interrupt device installed, the DUI rates have gone down by 15%,” Ho said. “So we ask that this law A.B. 366 pass because it's the right thing to do to save lives.”
You can watch the press conference, in its entirety, by clicking here.
