How to resolve AdBlock issue? BALLSTON SPA — The Saratoga County Department of Probation and the county Sherriff’s Office received a $35,000 grant from the Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee for enforcement of the State’s DWI-Ignition Interlock Device (IID) Enforcement Initiative.
The funding will be used to enforce the state program aimed at catching convicted drunk drivers who break the law by operating vehicles without ignition interlock devices or by circumventing or tampering with the devices to make them inoperable.
The program’s goal is to increase compliance with the state’s DWI laws, while helping law enforcement identify and arrest those individuals attempting to operate a motor vehicle without a court-ordered interlock device. The grant funds training as well as overtime costs for law enforcement, allowing agencies to conduct targeted sweeps aimed at catching offenders between Memorial Day and Labor Day.
Interlock devices are installed on the ignition of a vehicle to prevent the operator from starting it if they’ve been drinking. An individual must first blow into the device, which can then prevent the vehicle from starting if the presence of alcohol is detected.
Individuals convicted of drunk driving must install an ignition interlock device installation on any vehicle they intend to operate as a result of Leandra’s Law, which also makes it a felony to drive drunk with a child under 16 in the vehicle. The law took effect in December 2009 and is named in memory of 11-year-old Leandra Rosado, a passenger in an SUV who died when the vehicle’s intoxicated driver crashed on the Henry Hudson Parkway in New York City.
Under Leandra’s Law, judges are required to order all drivers convicted of misdemeanor or felony drunk driving charges to install and maintain ignition interlock devices on any vehicles they own or operate for at least six months at their own expense.
Individuals who attest under oath that they have sold or transferred title to their vehicles – and as a result aren’t ordered to install the device – still have the ignition interlock condition on their New York driver’s license and DMV license file. These individuals are still prohibited from driving a vehicle without an interlock, but some continue to do so in violation of Leandra’s Law.
The law also makes it illegal to tamper with or circumvent an ignition interlock device. Individuals may face jail time if convicted of any offense under the law. In addition, individuals on probation may be charged with a violation of their sentence if charged with an ignition interlock offense.
