Articles Posted in BAIID

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An Interlock Ignition Device (IID) is a machine that is internally connected (“interlocked”) into your motor vehicle’s ignition. Unless you blow into a tube that runs to the machine and blow below a predetermined breath alcohol level (BAL), your vehicle will not start. Furthermore, to ensure that you did not have someone else blow on your behalf just to get you on the road, you must retest at given intervals while the vehicle is moving (“rolling retest”) or the vehicle will stall.

For the purpose of Illinois DUI law there are two types of driving privileges that stem from an IID.  One of these is known as a Breath Alcohol Interlock Ignition Device (BAIID); the other, a Monitoring Device Driving Permit (MDDP).  Both of these permissions to drive require use of the same type of IID, but which of the permissions applies depends upon the status of your Illinois driving privileges.

This requires an understanding of the differences between driver’s license suspensions and revocations and between administrative sanctions and criminal consequences. A suspension represents a temporary removal of your driving privileges for a specified period of time. When the suspension time ends, your driving privileges will be restored upon payment of the appropriate fee, unless your driving privileges are otherwise invalid.

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There are six categories of Driving Under the Influence (DUI) in Illinois. 625 ILCS 5/11-501 These include driving under the influence of legally prescribed drugs, driving under the influence of any compound that causes driving impairment (“huffing”), driving with any amount of an illegal substance in your system, even if you are not under the influence and driving with a combination of the above so that it causes impairment.

But by far the most common type of DUI arrest in Illinois involves alcohol. Under the alcohol category are two kinds of DUI.

One is DUI that causes bad driving, proven by the officer’s observations and your performance on standardized field sobriety tests (SFTS). The other is driving with a BAC of .08 or greater, which does not require proof of actual impaired driving due to alcohol.

There is one type of breath test device that provides what is knowns as a “Preliminary Breath Test” (PBT). It is a small, handheld device that the users blows into.

The results of the PBT cannot be used as evidence of your blood alcohol content (BAL) or to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that your BAL was .08 or higher. 625 ILCS 5/11051.5 Before the police can arrest a driver for DUI, they must establish probable cause that the driver is under the influence.

The tools available to the police for maklng this determination include standardized field sobriety tests which includes the horizontal gaze nystagimus (HGN) where the officer passes a small object in front of the subject’s eyes, the one-legged stand (stand on one leg for 30 seconds) and the walk-and-turn (take 9 steps, turn around and take 9 steps back). In addition, the PBT law states that if the officer has reasonable suspicion to believe the person is under the influence, he may request a PBT and consider the results of it in reaching a probable cause determination and in requesting further tests.

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Under Illinois DUI driver’s licensing law, there are two types of situations in which the installation of an Ignition Interlock Device (IID) may come into play. Both scenarios involve the same device, namely, a machine that is wired into the ignition of your vehicle, which will not start until you blow into a tube and register a blood alcohol level in an acceptable range.

Both circumstances in which the IID is involved have a name. One is the Monitoring Device Driving Permit (MDDP) and the other is the Breath Alcohol Ignition Interlock Device (BAIID).

A driver’s license suspension is a temporary “pause” in the validity of your driver’s license. Once the pause period ends, your right to drive will be restored unless it is otherwise invalid.

A revocation invalidates your license. You must have an administrative hearing with the Illinois Secretary of State and prove you are entitled to restoration of your privilege to drive before. 625 ILCS 5/6-205

During a DUI arrest, the police will ask you to submit to a chemical test (blood or breath) to determine your blood alcohol content (BAC). A refusal to submit to the chemical test, or taking the chemical test and registering at least .08, results in a driver’s license suspension. This suspension will be between six months and three years depending upon whether you blow and upon whether you have had a DUI in the prior five years. 625 ILCS 5/6-208.1

If you have had a DUI arrest in the prior five years, you may not obtain a permit to drive. If you have not had a DUI in the previous five years, you are eligible for an MDDP. 625 ILCS 5/6-208.1 Each time you start the vehicle, and while you are driving, you must blow into a tube.

If you blow too high, the car will not start. In addition, high readings are recorded and electronically sent to the Secretary of State BAIID division.

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As concerns Illinois DUI offenses, the Secretary of State (“SOS”) serves two functions, one as record keeper and the other as determining whether someone who has been arrested for DUI can be a safe and responsible driver following an Illinois driver’s license suspension or revocation. 625 ILCS 5/2-118

A DUI arrest can result in a suspension or a revocation, or both, or neither. A suspension constitutes a “pause” in your right to drive for a period of time. Once that period of time ends, your right to drive is restored, provided there is not something else blocking that right.

In DUI cases, a revocation may create that roadblock. A revocation terminates your driver’s license and your right to drive in Illinois.

A revocation can only be removed by applying to the Secretary of State and demonstrating that, despite your DUI, you can now be considered safe to drive. The right to request that restoration only comes after a waiting period of one year, five years or ten years.

The waiting period is one year for a first conviction, five years for a second conviction that comes less than twenty years after a first conviction and ten years for a third conviction. Court supervision is not a conviction.

A driver’s license suspension happens when you are arrested for DUI and are asked to take a test and either register a blood alcohol level of at least .08 or refuse to test. The suspension period for a refusal is longer than it is for testing.

And the suspension is always longer if you have had a DUI arrest in the past five years, regardless of whether you test over .08 or refuse. People with a DUI in the previous five years are known a non-first offenders.

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Historically, basic matters of public safety on non-federal highways have been handled by the states. Beginning in the early 1980’s, Congress started intruding on this traditional area of state law with reference to Illinois DUI laws (Driving Under the Influence).

Rather than use persuasion, Congress employed a hammer, namely, money. States that did not submit to the will of the Federal Government risked losing federal funds allocated to the states.

Due to this coercion, all 50 states now have: a drinking age of 21 (235 ILCS 5/6-16), a blood alcohol content of .08 (625 ILCS 5/11-501(a)(1) and driver’s license suspensions for either taking a test and registering above the legal limit or for refusing to take a test.

Given the recent ruling United States Supreme Court decision in National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius (“Obamacare”), exactly how far the Federal Government may go in regulating areas traditionally reserved to the states under the Commerce Clause is not completely clear. However, that will not stop Congress and the President, particularly one who, as it the case with the current occupant, favors a strong federal presence in our lives, from trying.

In vogue at the present time, touted as “silver bullets” to stop drunk driving are Interlock Ignition Devices, which in Illinois go under the names of Monitoring Device Driving Permit (MDDP) and Breath Alcohol Interlock Ignition Devices (BAIID). A machine is incorporated into your vehicle’s ignition. The vehicle will not start unless you blow into a mouthpiece that allegedly measures blood alcohol readings.

BAIID and MDDP revolve around the idea of requiring a driver to rent a machine from someone (the manufacturer of the machine, or as the people who support these intrusions like to call them, the much less threatening-sounding “device”). Then after renting this “device”, the driver is forced to pay someone certified by the state (the installer) to place the “device” in the driver’s vehicle.

The installer periodically downloads readings from the “device” (for a fee the driver pays) and sends those results to the Illinois Secretary of State. For a fee the driver pays the Secretary of State, his office records the results and monitors the driver’s compliance with the Secretary of State’s rules. 92 Illinois Administrative Code (IAC) §1001.444.

Clearly, money is a factor in the push for these “devices’. And if the providers of these “devices” throw enough of it around Washington DC, there’s bound to be some proposals to increase the use of Interlock Ignition Devices (IID) throughout the country.

The state of Virginia, next door to DC, recently began requiring first offenders to install an IID. Both neighboring Maryland and the District of Columbia itself are now in the bulls eye of the National Traffic Safety Administration.

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For most of this country’s life, matters dealing with local public safety, including DUI and traffic laws, have been the responsibility of state government. The one notable exception has been the rules of the road governing traffic on the Interstate highway system, whose funding comes primarily from the federal government, and of course the Interstate highway systems crosses the boundaries of all the states.

Beginning in 1984 and continuing to this day, that changed. While beyond the Commercial Driver’s License CDL law Congress has not explicitly injected itself into traffic laws, it has done so indirectly. When it wants states to do something, Congress uses the coercive power of the purse: if a state does not pass a law Congress believes it should, Congress withholds federal highway money.

Prior to 1984, the age at which a person could purchase, or possess, or consume alcohol varied among the states. In Illinois, the age for beer and wine was 19, and it was 21 for distilled alcohol. In Iowa, the age for all alcoholic beverages was 18.

Today, the drinking age in Illinois is 21. 235 ILCS 5/6-16 It is the same in all 50 states. No state wants to forfeit federal highway funds.

At one time, each state was free to set its own legal limit for blood alcohol content, or to have no limit at all. In Illinois, the limit was initially 15, later lowered to .10. Today, it is .08. (625 ILCS 5/11-501(a)(1)), as it is in all 50 states. The reason for this is, that’s how the federal government wants it to be.

The federal government has gotten involved more directly pertaining to CDLS It has been accepted that because over-the-road truckers cross state boundaries, a uniform set of laws benefits both the motoring public and the trucking industry. While the federal government has not written a specific CDL law, it has set forth guidelines that all states are required to follow at the risk of losing their ability to issue CDLS if they fail to do so. Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1986 (CMVSA) (Title XII of Pub. Law 99-570) [49 U.S.C. § 2701 et seq.]

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Mothers Against Drunk Drivers (MADD) is convinced that the answer to DUI (Driving Under the Influence) is to require anyone convicted of DUI to install an ignition interlock device. In Illinois, this is known as a Breath Alcohol Ignition Interlock Device (BAIID)

A machine designed to measure the alcohol content of your breath is wired into your vehicle’s ignition. The device has a mouthpiece attached to it. You must blow into the mouthpiece and not register above a certain alcohol level in order for your vehicle to start. The results of all breath samples are stored and provided to the Illinois Secretary of State. 92 Ill. Adm. Code §1001.441
MADD, along with the manufacturers and installers of the BAIID machines, relentlessly promote the use of this device. After all, if the DUI “crisis” were ever alleviated, neither organization would have a reason to exist.

These organizations use their lobbying and campaign contributions at both the federal and state level. Their latest target is Massachusetts. They are promoting that first time DUI offenders be required to use an interlock device. It is a safe bet that at some point, they will set their sites on Illinois.

The law in Illinois with relation to when BAIID is required is more than a little confusing for someone who does not specialize in DUI. There exist two separate situations in which BAIID is required and within each of those situations, there are exceptions to the requirement.

To understand the differences, you must keep in mind that there are two prongs to a DUI arrest. At the time of a DUI arrest, the police will ask you to submit to a blood or breath test to determine what your blood alcohol content is. 625 ILCS 5/11-501.1
If you choose to submit to testing and register a level of .08 or greater, those results can be used against you in the DUI prosecution, as operating a motor vehicle with a BAC above .08 is illegal, or in other words, a crime. 625 ILCS 5/11-501 Even if you elect not to submit to testing, the state can charge you with driving while impaired by alcohol, or in other words, straight DUI.

Upon being convicted of a DUI, you face criminal consequences, (jail and or fines). For purposes of BAIID issues, the more important consequence of a DUI conviction is a driver’s license revocation.

Once your driver’s license is revoked because you were convicted of DUI, you must have a hearing with the Illinois Secretary of State. 625 ILCS 5/6-208 As Illinois law presently stands, you are not required to have BAIID in the event you are issued a restricted driving permit (RDP) or full reinstatement if this is your only DUI disposition in this or any other state. 625 ILCS 5/6-205(c) and 6-206(c)3
Furthermore, if you have had a previous DUI arrest and avoided being convicted of the DUI and your statutory summary suspension from the earlier arrest was rescinded, you are not BAIID required. And if you were not convicted of a prior DUI and received an SSS but the previous SSS was more than 10 years ago, you are not BAIID.

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The law in the state of Illinois contains specific provisions for what happens to you if you are arrested for Driving Under the Influence (DUI). You will face various criminal consequences, such as fine and jail, as provided in 625 ILCS 5/11-501 et. seq. Furthermore, there will be various driver’s license consequences.

If you are convicted of the DUI, your driver’s license will be revoked for 1, 5 or 10 years, depending upon how many previous DUI convictions you have on your record. And if this represents your fourth or more conviction after January 1, 1999, your driver’s license and driving privileges in Illinois will be subject to a lifetime revocation 625 ILCS 5/6-208. In order to be allowed to drive again following an Illinois driver’s license revocation, you must have a hearing through the Illinois Secretary of State.

The other aspect of your DUI arrest involves an automatic suspension of your driver’s license, which will typically take effect on the 46th day following your DUI arrest. This is known as a “statutory summary suspension” or SSS. An SSS goes away without a hearing after the suspension period ends.

If you agree to submit to testing to determine your blood alcohol level and register .08 or higher, your driver’s license will be suspended for 6 months if you have not had a DUI arrest in the previous 5 years (known as a “first offender”) The first offender suspension will be 1 year if you decide not to submit to testing. 625 ILCS 5.6-208.1
Someone who has had a DUI arrest in the previous 5 years is a non first offender. A non first offender who registers .08 or higher will be suspended for 1 year, while one who refuses faces a 3 year suspension. A non first offender is not entitled to drive for any reason during the entire suspension period. 625 ILCS 5/6-208.1 (g)

If you are first offender, you cannot drive at all during the first 30 days of a statutory summary suspension. Thereafter, you are entitled to a Monitoring Device Driving Permit (MDDP) unless:

1. Your driver’s license is otherwise invalid (revoked, suspended, expired).
2. You were charged with a DUI that resulted in death or great bodily harm.
3. You have a previous conviction for reckless homicide.
4. You are less than 18 years of age. 625 ILCS 5/6-206.1(a)(1)- (a)(4)

In order to receive an MDDP, you must agree to install a Breath Alcohol Interlock Ignition Device (BAIID) in all motor vehicles that you operate during the SSS period. BAIID is a machine that ties into your vehicle’s ignition system and detects the alcohol content of your breath when you blow into a tube, a step that is necessary for your vehicle to start.

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When you are arrested for a Driving Under the Influence (DUI) charge in Illinois, you are dealing with two separate but related issues. One issue involves only your driver’s license. The other involves the criminal aspect of the case, the DUI arrest and the possible consequences involving jail, fines, probation etc.

At the time of a DUI arrest, the police will almost always ask you to submit to some sort of testing (blood, breath or urine). The purpose of the test is to determine if you have a certain level of alcohol in your system (in Illinois, the legal limit is .08) or any amount of illegal drugs. 625 ILCS 5/11-501.1
It is your decision whether to agree to testing. If the tests show something illegal, your driver’s license is subject to a suspension for 6 months if you have not had a DUI in the previous 5 years or 12 months if you have. 625 ILCS 5/6-208.1
These are “first offender” suspensions. That can be confusing because this may not be your first DUI offense. However, if the last one was more than 5 years ago, you are considered a first offender at least for the purpose of this suspension.

You may refuse the tests. If you do and this is you have had a DUI offense in the past 5 years, your driver’s license is subject to a suspension for one year. If you refuse under those circumstances, you will be suspended for 3 years. 625 ILCS 5/6-208.1 Persons in this situation are non first offenders.

All of the above suspensions are known as statutory summary suspensions (SSS). This is a legal term that means the suspension is basically automatic. However, because it is a suspension, it ends automatically at the designated time (6, 12 or 36 months).

The primary difference between a first offender and non first offender is that a non first offender cannot seek any type of permission to drive, not even for work. All the time on the suspension is known as “hard time”, meaning no driving relief is available.

In contrast, during the SSS, a first offender is eligible for a special license knows as a Monitoring Device Driving Permit (MDDP) During all but the first 30 days of an SSS, the first offender can, with a few exceptions, drive anywhere, for any reason.

Once an SSS ends, you are free to drive without the BAIID provided your license is otherwise valid. Assume that you are convicted of the DUI, your license will be revoked and you must have a hearing with the Secretary of State.

One type of license you may request at a Secretary of State hearing (formal or informal) is known as a Restricted Driving Permit (RDP). Unlike an MDDP, an RDP is not automatic and involves a very intense driver’s license hearing process.

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If you have been arrested for Driving Under the Influence (DUI) in Illinois you may be eligible for an MDDP during the time your driver’s license is suspended. During a DUI arrest, you will be asked to provide the police with a breath or blood sample to determine whether your blood alcohol level exceeds the legal limit. In Illinois, as in all 50 states, the legal limit is .08.

If you submit a blood or breath sample and register above .08, or you refuse to submit, your driver’s license will be suspended. A suspension, unlike a driver’s license revocation, automatically ends when the suspension period is over.

Should this be your second DUI offense in the past five years, your license will be suspended for 1 year or 3 years. If you submit to a test, the suspension will be for 1 year. If you decline to submit, the suspension will last for 3 years.

As you can see, the law is designed to encourage you to submit to testing, in order to make it easier for the police to prove their case. You are not allowed to drive for any purpose during the 1 or 3 year suspension, not even with a restricted driving permit (RDP). This forces a non first offender to think long and hard about whether to offer a blood or breath sample.

On the other hand, if you have not had a DUI arrest in the 5 years preceding a current arrest, your suspension time will be shorter and you may be eligible for an MDDP. Notice that you may be eligible for the MDDP even if this is not your first DUI offense. You are considered a first offender for MDDP purposes so long as the arrests are more than 5 years apart, no matter how many arrests are on your record.

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We have provided effective advice and assistance to thousands of clients facing driver's license suspensions and revocations, both in Illinois and out-of-state, including students from area colleges and universities.

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