'It Is Ridiculous': First-Time Drunk Drivers Will No Longer Face Lengthy Loss Of License Under New Jersey Law
CHERRY HILL, N.J. (CBS) -- In less than a month, big changes will go into effect for New Jersey's driving while intoxicated laws. Among them is actually reducing the amount of time a first-time offender loses his or her driver's license.
So why the change, and how will it make roads safer?
Cherry Hill defense attorney Even Levow doesn't usually have a problem making sure his clients' breathalyzer tests are inadmissible in court.
"Ninety-percent of the people are outliers in this machine. They either read very high or low -- most people read very high," Levow said.
He says faulty calibration, dental problems, body composition or a simple Listerine strip can sway the machines.
"It is ridiculous," Levow said.
But here, Levow is no longer talking about breathalyzers. Instead, a new law is going into effect in New Jersey.
Under it, a first-time drunk driver will no longer face a lengthy loss of their driver's license.
"As much as my clients may like that to get out of issues, I'm going to be a little nervous driving on the roads myself," Levow said.
So who would push for a law that would allow DWI drivers to get behind the wheel again? It turns out the nonprofit Mothers Against Drunk Driving.
"Fifty- to 75% percent of people with license suspensions continue to operate their vehicle for a whole variety of reasons, many of whom need to provide for their family," Mothers Against Drunk Driving board member Steven Benvenisti said.
Benvenisti is also an attorney and the victim of a drunk driver. He says license suspensions don't work and that ignition interlock devices are 67% more effective in reducing repeat DWI offenses.
"What this law does is, it ensures that if someone is going to be operating their vehicle legally, they are not going to be operating it while drunk," Benvenisti said.
On Dec. 1, first-time DWI offenders with a blood alcohol concentration under .15% can have their license back as soon as they install an ignition interlock device into their car, which requires a driver to blow into a mouthpiece before their vehicle will operate.
"There's really not going to be much deterrence on a first-offense DWI in New Jersey anymore," Levow said.
But Benvenisti says the deterrent is the data.
"The goal is to prevent crashes and to save lives and ignition interlock devices, more so than any other technology out there, does exactly that," Benvenisti said.
On Dec. 1, New Jersey will become the 34th state with an expanded all-offender ignition interlock law.
And as for those breathalyzers, if a person refuses one next month, they too will be required to have an IID installed at their own expense.
