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Safety Board Calls For Dashboard Breathalyzers For Convicted Drunk Drivers

By: Martin Di Caro // December 11, 2012
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NTSB recommendations would put ignition interlock devices on the dashboards of drivers convicted of drunk driving.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/damianathegirl/5152924145/
NTSB recommendations would put ignition interlock devices on the dashboards of drivers convicted of drunk driving.

A federal safety board is recommending that all states require ignition interlock devices for convicted drunk drivers, including first-time offenders.

The five-member National Transportation Safety Board said the devices are currently the best available solution to reducing drunk driving deaths, which account for about a third of the nation's 32,000 traffic deaths each year.

Virginia is among the 17 states that already have laws requiring use of the device by all convicted drunk drivers.

The NTSB cited a study by its staff that found 360 people a year are killed in wrong-way driving crashes on high-speed highways. The study concluded that 69 percent of wrong-way drivers had blood alcohol levels above the legal limit.

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