Public Information and Awareness serves as a primary focal point within the Commission on VASAP.
This video focuses on events surrounding the decision made by two friends to circumvent the ignition interlock system. As you can see from this tragic video, you are not helping a friend by providing a passing interlock breath test so they can drive home. Instead, your actions could very well lead to death or injury to them or others.
The consequences of this one event include, at a minimum, injury, property damage, increased insurance costs, criminal charges, legal fees, liability costs and potential loss of employment. All of this could have been avoided if the driver had chosen not to drink, or at a minimum, called for public transportation or had his sober friend, who successfully passed on the interlock device, drive him to his destination.
In this video two friends conspire to have a local mechanic tamper with the interlock device in order to bypass the unit. The actions taken by both friends and the mechanic are chargeable as a class 1 misdemeanor in Virginia.
Criminal activity of this type can result in charges for all parties involved and result in liability issues for the mechanic and/or the business itself. The smart decision, if you have consumed alcohol, is not to drive impaired, and to seek public transportation or call a friend or relative to pick you up. Don’t make a bad situation worse.
In this video a husband and wife are enjoying a dinner out celebrating her birthday. Instead of having the sober person drive, both individuals make a catastrophic mistake. The impaired person elects to drive and the sober wife agrees to circumvent the ignition interlock device for her husband to enable his behavior. The consequence leads to both being arrested for circumvention of the ignition interlock device. No matter your relationship to someone who is subject to an interlock device, is enabling their behavior by assisting them in circumvention of the device worth jail time, attorney fees, loss of employment, or even worse, injury or death?
If you are a mechanic it is extremely important when performing services on a vehicle with an installed interlock system that the interlock device is reconnected properly when the work is completed. Although failure to do so may be a mistake, it can lead to extreme liability exposure and possibly a loss of your business. If you are a mechanic that encounters a vehicle with an interlock installed and you are unsure of the proper protocol, please contact us at (804) 786-5895 for information. Your business is worth the call.
“Friends” may provide multiple different excuses and failed reasoning for you to assist them in circumvention of their interlock system but any true friend would never put you in that position. Results of partnering with someone to circumvent their interlock system could result in criminal charges, attorney fees, civil liability, loss of professional license, loss of employment and more for YOU. Is it worth it to jeopardize all you have accomplished for someone that is clearly thinking only about themselves? Don’t enable your “friends.”
Individuals who are referred to the Virginia Alcohol Safety Action Program for interlock monitoring are given a range of rules to follow regarding their compliance with the interlock program. One of those very important rules is proper use of the interlock device involving 3rd parties. If you are currently enrolled in an ASAP for interlock monitoring, or share a vehicle with someone who is, it is very important that you watch this video. One view may positively change the direction of your life forever.
This video summarizes the negative consequences for those who circumvent an ignition interlock device in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Consequences include, but are not limited to, jail time, liability exposure, loss of professional license, loss of employment, removal from college, attorney fees, property damage, loss of relationships, and injury or death. It just isn’t worth it especially when there are so many public transportation options available. Plan ahead and be safe.
This is the first commercial we had the pleasure of creating. This public information commercial was shown in multiple movie theaters throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia and the feedback we received regarding positive changes in behavior was fantastic. This video highlights the different consequences associated with one life changing decision. Although there are negative consequences associated with the decision to drive impaired we must not lose focus of the positive consequences of making the prudent decision.