DUI | Video Transcript

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[GRAPHIC: ABC 7 News]

ANNOUNCER: This is ABC 7 News, Chicago's number one news. With Judy Hsu--

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ANNOUNCER: --Hosea Sanders--

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JUDY HSU: And now, beginning next year, first-time drunk driving offenders in Illinois will have to use a breathalyzer to start their cars. It is the same device a Texas judge just ordered former Chicago Bears Cedric Benson to have installed after his alleged DUI arrest.

[GRAPHIC: Drunk Driving in Illinois More than 50,100 DUI arrests 594 People Killed in Alcohol-related Crashes IL Secretary of State's Office]

JUDY HSU: There were more than 50,000 DUI arrests in Illinois in 2006. It is a very serious offense. 594 people were killed in alcohol-related crashes. Thomas Glasgow is a former Cook County states attorney now in private practice and he joins us this morning to talk a little bit more about this new law and this device. It is something completely new. It will go into effect starting, what, the 1st of January.

THOMAS GLASGOW: Starting the 1st of January this year.

JUDY HSU: Okay, so this is something that Cedric Benson was ordered to install. And this is just after an arrest, not necessarily a conviction.

THOMAS GLASGOW: That's correct. What part of the conditions of bond, which a judge can order any conditions of bond, and in Texas part of the statute the judge can order this breathalyzer to be put on to the car.

[GRAPHIC: Cedric Benson]

THOMAS GLASGOW: It is a condition for him to drive. It's called a breath alcohol ignition interlock device. And essentially what it does is it monitors the occupant or the driver's breath and breath alcohol at any given time.

[GRAPHIC: You Drink & Drive You Lose]

JUDY HSU: So now starting next year here in Illinois it is after the first arrest for DUI?

THOMAS GLASGOW: After the first arrest for DUI. You don't have to have any prior convictions. Part of the conditions that the Illinois legislature has imposed is that you will have to at your own expense install a breath interlock--or alcohol interlock device on your car in order to drive wherever you want during the period of your statutory summary suspension. And a DUI as I--we have talked about before comes in two different parts, a criminal and a civil. The criminal is where you can go to jail.

The civil part is what we're dealing with here.

JUDY HSU: Okay.

THOMAS GLASGOW: The suspension of your driver's privileges. So it's either a six-month or one-year suspension as of January 1st. And in order to drive during that period, you must have this interlock device on your car.

JUDY HSU: And how much is it?

THOMAS GLASGOW: It's roughly about $400.

[GRAPHIC: Device]

THOMAS GLASGOW: And the way it works--$450 for every six months. And what it does is it's kind of like a cell phone, like the old car cell phones that you have.

[GRAPHIC: Driver]

THOMAS GLASGOW: It goes off when you start the car. In order to start the car you have to blow into it.

[GRAPHIC: Interlock device]

THOMAS GLASGOW: Then it goes off at random times during the, the drive, 10 minutes, 12 minutes, 15 minutes, 30 minutes in order of you to keep the car going.

JUDY HSU: Wow, and this starts January 1st.

THOMAS GLASGOW: Yes, it does.

JUDY HSU: Okay. And, and I'm sure, I mean there's a little bit of controversy about it because there are ways to get around it, so we'll have to see if it works or not, right?

THOMAS GLASGOW: Well, there'll all yeast sensitive. So you could be eating a Big Mac and it may set off the machine because of the fermentation in your mouth. Obviously, toothpaste, mouthwash, et cetera, those are things that can set it off.

But there's a record in the, in the database that is kept that either stops the car and locks you out of the car when you blow into it. And then when you blow back into it, if you're blowing a .00 again, then it records that as well.

And that's how they keep track of whether or not you were actually drinking or whether or not you were under the influence of alcohol or it was just foreign substance.

JUDY HSU: I'm sure we'll have to continue to follow this to see exactly how it works once this goes into effect. Thomas Glasgow, thank you so much for stopping by with the information. We'll be right back after this.