On January 14, 2010 the NJ Legislature changed the penalties a person incurs if he/she pleads guilty to a DWI. The new changes will require, for the most part, that a judge order the installation of an ignition interlock device on a vehicle principally operated by the defendant (an ignition interlock device is a device that is attached to a person's car that before the vehicle's motor can be started, the driver first must exhale into the device, if the resultant breath-alcohol concentration analyzed result is greater than the programed blood alcohol concentration — usually 0.02% or 0.04%, the device prevents the engine from being started).
Prior to this new legislation, a new jersey municipal court judge had authority and/or discretion to either mandate or disallow a person convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol, in violation of N.J.S.A. 39:4-54, to install an ignition interlock device onto his/her vehicle. However, the new changes adopted by the legislature, which are adopted and incorporated in N.J.S.A 39:4-50.17, mandate that a defendant convicted of a DWI install an interlock device on the vehicle he/she principally operates and refrain from operating any vehicle that is not so equipped.
The only exception to this requirement is to first time offenders who have a BAC level below .15%.
The practicality of this new law is that persons convicted of a DWI are going to bear additional costs post conviction. In addition, to all the other costs associated with a DWI conviction an offender will have to pay for an ignition interlock device (that has been known to malfunction and cause unnecessary problems) and struggle with blowing into it on a daily basis. For a detailed explanation of the new changes see, N.J.S.A. 39:4-54.
