Look to N.M. for DUI lead

At some point, drunken drivers are going to get it.

Those who drive in New Mexico, in fact, may be starting to see the picture already. With 2,600 DUI offenders each year, New Mexico has decided to up the ante. The state is the first in the nation to require that the vehicles of DUI offenders have blood-alcohol testing devices installed. Other states use the devices. New Mexico makes them mandatory — even for first-time offenders.

Ole, New Mexico.

Would that other states were as vigilant.

Reports in January showed that the government is falling short of its longtime goal for cutting alcohol-related traffic deaths. Despite all efforts, highway fatalities involving alcohol remain at 17,000 a year. Yet 10 states still balk at using "sobriety checkpoints" on the roadways. Utah, thankfully, is not one. Yet even in Utah, repeat offenders often get lost in the blizzard of paperwork produced by law enforcement and the courts.

Utah is not a straggler. But it may be time for the state to go to another level. In New Mexico, the new "interlocks" that keep automobiles from starting if the driver is impaired have cut re-arrests for DUI offenses from between 40 percent to as much as 95 percent. The law there requires first-time offenders to use the interlocks for a year; two-time offenders must have them for two years, three-timers get three years and four-time offenders are locked out for life.

Opponents say the law is harsh; that it disproportionately affects the poor. They also say some judges refuse to order the interlocks, even when the law mandates it. Sometimes, offenders simply switch vehicles.

Proponents of the law, however, argue that revoking a driver's license has no effect. And with so many people being needlessly slaughtered by impaired drivers, drastic remedies are called for.

We agree.

The interlocks may indeed be a harsh punishment. But it is not as harsh as the punishment felt by a father, mother or child of an innocent person mowed down by a reckless driver who puts himself above the law.

All DUI deaths are senseless deaths. The one redeeming fact may be that a DUI death can trigger changes in the system that prevent further suffering.

We like the New Mexico interlock law. We hope Utah officials examine it closely and, if appropriate, put it to work here.

In the hands of a drunk, the automobile becomes a weapon for killing other people.

It's time to do more to disarm the offenders.