The Leandra’s Law, as the piece of legislation is called, will come into effect on August 15. According to its provisions, the breathalyzers will be leased at the driver's expense, for in between $70 and $110 a month, in addition to the installation charge which can go to as much as $100.
The decision to adopt the legislation has been made due to the high number of convicted drunken drivers in the state. According to statistics, New York state has 25,000 drunken-driving convictions each year.
Last month, news of a bill which will increase funding for in-car breathalyzers surfaced. Dubbed by some to be as big of an invention as the seatbelt, breathalyzers are hoped to become a part of your car in the years to come.
In New York, the devices will be calibrated to prevent the car from starting if the driver has at least 0.025 blood-alcohol content (the criminal limit is 0.08). The regulators even thought how to prevent the convicted driver from making a sober friend take the test: the device retests on its own within 5 to 15 minutes.
“We know that alcohol interlocks do work to reduce recidivism, and strengthening interlocks to include first offenders is the logical step to curb alcohol-impaired driving,” Russ Rader, IIHS spokesman told The New York Times.
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