Connecticut has achieved favored-state status with the national organization Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) and is the organization's current poster child in its campaign to curb DUI-related car accidents across the country.

That owes to this: On January 1, 2012, Connecticut closed ranks with a growing minority of states that mandate installation of ignition interlock devices on vehicles of persons who have been charged with drunk driving.

What distinguishes Connecticut's law and similar legislation passed in 14 other states is that it applies in cases where a person was arrested for a blood-alcohol content (BAC) of .08, the threshold for drunk driving everywhere in the United States. Additionally, the law applies to even first-time offenders.

MADD officials and similarly minded advocates would love to see a Connecticut-type law passed everywhere in the country, but that is far from being the case presently. Although a second grouping of 24 states also has statutory interlock laws in place, they are comparatively less stringent than what is on the books in Connecticut and in the other first-time/.08 states.

Texas, Virginia and Maryland, for example (along with select other states), render interlocks mandatory in cases involving a BAC of .15. Minnesota and New Hampshire make that .016, with Michigan upping it a notch to .17. A handful-plus of other states (e.g., Massachusetts, Pennsylvania) make interlock devices mandatory for second DUI convictions.

Critics of mandatory interlocks -- such as the American Beverage Institute -- generally confine their criticisms to their disapproval of installation for first offenders and those with comparatively low BACs. They contend that such cases are often more appropriately dealt with pursuant to a judge's discretion.

If anything, the interlock debate is about to heat up, with the recent introduction of a bill sponsored by Rep. John Mica (R-FL) that seeks to impose the first-offender installation requirement uniformly across the country.

Source: MSNBC, "Curbing drunken drivers: Should ignition interlock be required on every car?" Jim Gold, Jan. 5, 2012