Ignition Interlock Device Process in Maryland
Ignition interlock is a device placed in an individual’s vehicle which essentially would make them blow into that device in order to start their car. It’s a device that people put on their vehicle as a restriction for a DUI-related offense.
Previously, judges had discretion on whether or not to order someone to install one of these devices. Often, it did not happen in first DUI offense cases, but it would happen in circumstances where somebody was a second-time or multiple DUI offender. A judge just didn’t feel safe having this person back out on the road without some precautions. So if they were going to start a vehicle, the vehicle would not have the ability to have the ignition actually start without some kind of a security or precaution in place to make sure that that individual didn’t have any alcohol on their breath.
Other situations where a first-time offender might have ignition interlock on their car would be situations with a very serious accident and a high-blood alcohol concentration level. It would have to be something that made that first-time DUI situation more serious or more significant than your average first-time DUI.
Still other situations include where people choose to participate in ignition interlock it as opposed to because they’re ordered by the court to do it. For example: I’ve seen parents whose children have been caught with DUIs that might not have been very serious. They may have been a very, very low-blood alcohol concentration levels, but the parents still don’t want their children out driving a vehicle so they put an ignition interlock device on their car just so the family feels comfortable knowing that their children will not be able to operate a vehicle without actually blowing into the device.
However, as of October 2024, participation in the program became mandatory for anyone who was convicted of or received probation for drinking and driving, or for those who accumulated enough points from alcohol-related offenses to get their license suspended.
What Are the Penalties For Failing an Ignition Interlock Test?
If an individual fails an ignition interlock, usually the penalty is to simply extend the period of time that a person has the ignition interlock on their vehicle. So if the Motor Vehicle Administration told an individual to participate in the ignition interlock for 12 months, and there was a violation, they might simply add on another month to that period of time, and continue to add on one month each time there was a violation of ignition interlock.
From the court’s perspective, if a person violates ignition interlock, then this could be handled in one of two ways. It could be charged as a violation of a license restriction, which is a separate criminal offense, or it could be charged as a violation of probation.
Depending on how an ignition interlock violation is charged, the penalties could be very different, ranging anywhere from up to 60 days as a maximum all the way up to a year in jail as a maximum. It depends on how the sentence was structured by a judge and on whether the individual was simply being charged with violating a license restriction or a violation of the court’s probation.