Advocates aim to close a loophole in a Maryland law intended to prevent drunken driving.
Noah’s Law, named after Montgomery County police Officer Noah Leotta who was hit and killed by a drunk driver in 2015, passed in 2016.
The law currently requires convicted drunken drivers to have an ignition interlock, like a breathalyzer, installed in their vehicle.
However, that provision does not apply to drunken drivers given probation before judgment for completing certain tasks, like alcohol treatment.
This loophole has allowed thousands of drunken drivers to return to the wheel without the device, advocates say.
Legislation to close this loophole failed to pass over the past few years.
“Now the numbers and the deaths and the injuries caused by impaired drivers are piling up on the roadways in Maryland, in part due to the inaction of this legislative body,” said Noah’s father, Rich Leotta, who has advocated to close the loophole for years.
While new legislation passed in the Maryland Senate last year, it died at the end of the session because it did not come up in the House.
“There are more and more people taking advantage of this loophole that we are trying to close,” Kurt Erickson, president of the Washington Regional Alcohol Program said.
Vickie Brown, whose 12-year-old son Darius Brown died in a drunken driving accident in 2004, said she has been “ready for the fight” since she found out the new legislation did not pass last year.
