Not sure if this is happening elsewhere, but on the local news last night they had a segment of a company called Intoxalock that had a Cyberattack. Intoxalock sells in car Breathalyzers that are usually court mandated after someone has a DUI. This attack is preventing anyone this one of these devices installed to start their vehicle.
Probably some ■■■■■■ off software engineer who doesn’t like drunks driving on our streets or was personally affected by a DUI driver. - IT WASN’T ME.
do you feel someone convicted of a DUI should forever be prevented from driving legally?
No. As I said (jokingly) - I wasn’t the one who did it.
Thank you for the reply
As a mechanic, I hated Breathalyzers on customers vehicles, and when I last delt with them, (2018ish IIRC) all that is/was required to start a vehicle was someone that hadn’t been drinking, generally they had extra month piece covers for others to start them, now having to do basic maintenance to diag work you need to start the vehicle multiple times, so shops can call in and either get a over ride code for x amount of time or “learn” how to bypass them depending, so if you figured that out you could just bypass it, not sure how long before the company realized it though, but still, just pay the neighborhood kid to blow in it before starting the vehicle…
They may have more advanced Breathalyzers now a days though…
Note: I am against drinking and driving…
NH has one of the laxest DUI laws in the country. There are people on the road today with a valid drivers license who have had 4 or higher DUIs. Top that off with we’re also one of the few states that doesn’t require auto insurance. For other states with lax DUI laws at least elevated auto insurance has prevented some from drinking and driving. And many of these people are judgement proof because they have ZERO assets to sue for. They drive around in their cheap car with no insurance ■■■■■ and hit another car - OH WELL. Good luck.
Yes I’m against driving under the influence of alcohol, pot, drugs, etc.
But some of the dumbest professionals are judges. Next is legislators. I don’t know what th3 answer is but I’m pretty sure it is not lock out devices, court rulings, or more laws. How do you change culture in a population of bubble heads? Most people don’t need a law to be responsible. For others it doesn’t matter. I sold a car once with plates good for six months. I got a summons because it was driving around without the title being changed and no need to prove insurance to get new plates.
We have a program here to mentor folks with abuse problems to turn their life around. Slow but it seems to work. I had a boss once that said once a month he’d get stinking ■■■■■ out of his territory to clean his system out. He was a man with demons. A neighbor spent every night at the bar. Walked the two blocks home. Us kids all talked about him but now discovered he was a ww2 vet. I dunno. Lots of folks with demons following them around. I had a couple uncles too so I’m not unfamiliar of the whole issue.
The problem, in many cases, is getting people to admit that they need help. I had a cousin who–literally–drank himself to death.
We only found out about his death ~9 months later, when his wife phoned, asking for money. She said that my cousin had been unemployable for so long, that he had run out of money for b o o z e, so he began drinking rubbing alcohol. Death came within a few days, according to her.
I don’t exactly know how it works but the court enrolls them in th3 program in lieu of prosecution if they agree. All confidential but once in a while the news will feature a graduate with how it changed their life. Don’t have to worry about them driving. Of course they must get to the underlying psychological issues that put them there in the first place, otherwise it is just short lived.
Laws aren’t there to make people responsible, they are there to make people accountable. Where there are actions there are consequences. There are many things that people (and companies) SHOULD do or should NOT do based on common sense, safety, and general civil consideration. Laws are there to enforce consequences for actions that violate the rules that we consider fundamentally fair or appropriate.
The tricky part is coming to agreement as a society on the values that are most important and appropriate in our time. Look at our not so civil discourse at the present time.
To bring things back to the topic, ignition locks for breathalyzer tests are a smart idea and the devices are generally reliable. Yes, they are an annoyance for car repair places and yes, some people will find a way to defeat them. Criminals and scammers abound in our society so everything good will always find bad people to defeat or circumvent it. Laws hold those people accountable, if they are caught.
