Ignition Interlock Devices After a New York DWI

The Part of the Sentence That Rides in Your Car

Since August 15, 2010, every misdemeanor or felony DWI conviction in New York has come with an ignition interlock order under Leandra’s Law: a breath-testing device wired to the ignition that will not let the car start if it detects alcohol, and that photographs you, logs every test, and reports to a county monitor. It is ordered for at least a year, you pay for it, and using a car without it is a new misdemeanor. It is also the DWI consequence most people know least about until the sentencing judge explains it.

Attorney Andrew DeLuca handles interlock issues as part of every DWI case in Saratoga, Warren, Washington, Fulton, and Montgomery Counties: whether the device can be avoided through a DWAI disposition, how the no-vehicle affidavit works, how to apply for a fee waiver before sentencing, and what to do when the monitor reports a failed test. This page sets out the rules as they stand in the Vehicle and Traffic Law and the DCJS regulations.

To talk to Andrew directly, at any time call 518-245-9109

What It Costs and How the Fee Waiver Works

VTL 1198(5)(a) puts the cost of installing and maintaining the device on the driver, and treats that cost as a fine for collection purposes, in addition to the DWI fine and surcharges. No state agency publishes a dollar figure. Each approved vendor files a maximum fee schedule with DCJS that must list the installation fee, the monthly fee, any service fees, and the removal fee, and the schedules are built on the assumption that courts will waive about 10 percent of them. If you cannot afford the device, the regulations at 9 NYCRR 358.8 require you to file a DCJS financial disclosure report with the court, in triplicate, before sentencing. The court first considers a payment plan and, if that is not feasible, may waive the cost entirely, in which case the vendor must provide the device free of charge. There is no income threshold in the rules; the court decides on the disclosure. Andrew prepares the financial disclosure with clients before the sentencing date, because a waiver requested after sentencing is a much harder ask.

Service Visits, Failed Tests, and Lockouts

The device must be serviced within 30 days of installation and every 30 days after that (every 60 days if it transmits data automatically). If you fail the start-up test, the device requires a re-test within 5 to 15 minutes; while driving it demands rolling re-tests, and a missed rolling re-test counts as a failure. Enough failures put the device into lockout, which disables the vehicle unless it is serviced within five calendar days, and an unlock code requires a service visit within two hours. The vendor must report every failed or missed test, lockout, missed service visit, and suspected tampering to the county monitor within three business days, and the monitor must notify the court and the District Attorney within five. From there the monitor can recommend an extension of the interlock period, treatment or the Impaired Driver Program, a DMV referral, or revocation of the sentence, and for a probationer the report can become a violation of probation. A single failed test from mouthwash or a breakfast sandwich is explainable; a pattern is not, and how the first report is answered often decides whether there is a second.

What Counts as a Violation

• Driving without the device while subject to an interlock order: class A misdemeanor, VTL 1198(9)(d)
• Asking or allowing someone else to blow into the device or start the car for you: class A misdemeanor, 1198(9)(a)
• Blowing into a device for a restricted driver: class A misdemeanor for that person, 1198(9)(b)
• Tampering with or circumventing a working device: class A misdemeanor, 1198(9)(c)
• Lending, renting, or leasing a car without a device to a restricted driver, or failing to tell the lender about your restriction: a misdemeanor under 1198(7), treated as class A under Penal Law 55.10

Each of these is a new criminal charge on top of the probation or conditional discharge violation, and a conviction for any of them while the DWI sentence is open usually ends the possibility of early termination. The one exception in the statute is for work: under VTL 1198(8) you may drive an employer-owned vehicle without a device, only in the course of your job, only after the employer has been notified in writing, and only after that documentation is filed with the court and probation. A vehicle owned by a business you own or control does not qualify.

Two Interlocks That Are Not the Same

The court-ordered Leandra’s Law device described on this page is separate from the DMV’s administrative interlock. Under 15 NYCRR 136.5, a driver with three alcohol or drug driving convictions or incidents within 25 years who is relicensed after the waiting period receives a five-year problem-driver restriction with an ignition interlock for the full five years, with no hardship waiver and no early removal. The DMV states plainly that its device is different from the one ordered by a court. Drivers with repeat histories can end up subject to both, in sequence.

Interlock Cases in Saratoga County and the Capital Region

In this region the county probation department is the monitor for anyone sentenced to probation, and each county’s interlock plan designates the monitor for conditional discharge sentences. The sentencing court is the local town, village, or city court where the DWI was heard: Saratoga Springs City Court, the town courts of Wilton, Malta, Clifton Park, and Halfmoon, Queensbury and Lake George in Warren County, and the city courts of Glens Falls, Amsterdam, Gloversville, and Johnstown. Out-of-state residents convicted here are covered too; the regulations require the device to be installed before relocating, using a New York-approved vendor that operates in the home state, and the details are on our out-of-state driver page. Related pages: First-Time DWI, Leandra’s Law, DWAI, Probation Violations, and the DWI defense overview.