Melanies | Melanie’s Law Holds A Hostage « Dogging

Melanies | Melanie’s Law Holds A Hostage

September 10, 2010 – 12:47 am

The device was installed in the car because his wife wanted to have her license reinstated following two driving under the influence convictions; one occurred some 20 years ago, the other about five years ago.

Under the state Melanie’s Law, individuals with two or more DUI convictions are eligible to have their license reinstated if they agree to have the device installed in their personal, rented, leased or work vehicle for at least two years.

With the device in place, the operator has to blow into it and register a blood alcohol level less than .02 percent for the vehicle to start. Police can also order the driver to stop, kill his engine, and blow into the device to restart the car.

But Mr. Bombard, 60, who has been diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary (lung) disease – a condition which has saddled him with chronic bronchitis and emphysema – does not have the lung capacity to trigger the ignition interlock device.

For the next two years, he will have to resign himself to taking public transportation, or being chauffeured by his wife or someone else.

“My wife is taking care of her handicapped sister and needs the car to get around, and I need it to make doctor appointments and such, so this is going to be very disruptive,” he said. “But when I call the registry, they tell me that the only way around this is to buy another car.”

Attorney Brian E. Simoneau, a Framingham lawyer who has represented dozens of clients in the state on motor vehicle license suspension and appeals cases, is not surprised by the response Mr. Bombard received from the Registry of Motor Vehicles.

“The registry has no discretion in how the law is enforced,” he said. “The law allows no exceptions. It is enforced with zero tolerance.”

In fact, once you submit to an ignition device, it would appear you are at its mercy.

Melanie’s Law was adopted in 2005 to create harsher penalties for those convicted of driving under the influence, and since January 2006, more than 6,000 drivers have been required to install the ignition device in vehicles they drive.

The device works for most people, but as in the case of Mr. Bombard, it can have negative impact on family members with clean driving records who have to drive vehicles in which it is installed.

Some of the most frequent problems with the device occur because it is not a Breathalyzer but a lock-out mechanism, Mr. Simoneau said.

“It does not have the sophistication of a police Breathalyzer,” he said. “It doesn’t use infrared technology and it doesn’t use simulated samples” against which to test a person’s blood level.

As a result, a host of things – from flavored coffee to pizza crust, or a cough drop, or sugarless gum, even breath mints – can generate false readings on the ignition device.

“It is not a true blood-alcohol test. Any chemical that ends with ‘ol’ in its name will cause a false reading,” Mr. Simoneau said.

The windshield wiper fluid one of Mr. Simoneau’s clients was using, for example, triggered a false reading after the fumes from the fluid entered the car’s cabin through the air vents.

Given the alternative of losing your license for 10 years, or for life, it is understandable why some people choose to have the device installed. It is also understandable that they would like to see some modifications that take into account the device’s shortcomings.

That is unlikely to happen here in Massachusetts, however, where the