Is Va.’s ignition-interlock rule for first-time DUI offenders too tough?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/is-vas-ignition-interlock-rule-for-first-time-dui-offenders-too-tough/2012/04/08/gIQAmFhd4S_story.html

Virginia is set to begin enforcing the region’s toughest drunken-driving penalty, one that will require thousands of first-time DUI offenders to install in their cars breathalyzers that can lock the ignition, whether they were highly intoxicated or slightly over the limit.

The new law, which takes effect in July, will roughly quadruple the number of people required to use ignition interlock devices, as they are known, to more than 18,000, and offenders will have to pay a hefty fee — about $480 for a typical six-month installation.

The measure has sparked a contentious debate between groups battling drunken driving and those representing offenders about just how far the long and steady push to stiffen drunken-driving penalties should go in the state.