Petition For New DWI Law Started in Victim's Honor

A petition on the website Change.org has been started to push New York State to require all cars to have alcohol-sensing devices installed that would render a car useless if an intoxicated person entered the driver's seat.

The petition, called "Install sensitive Interlock Devices," was started yesterday and as of 3:40pm has already gained 1,526 of the 2,500 signatures it said it would require to be sent.

The petition was started in honor of Brittney Walsh, the 18-year-old Lindenhurst resident and recent Copiague High School graduate who was killed Sunday by alleged drunk driver Michael Grasing. The petition notes that the device which would be required by "Brittney's Law" would be rather small and unnoticeable to most drivers, but would not require an outright "blow test" to be started.

"This law would state that all vehicles have a form of a interlock device," the petition states. "A small device attached to the inside of the car that would pick up on the scent of alcohol on the breath and in turn would render the car useless."

New York already has a law requiring certain previous offenders to install the breathilizer-like devices in their vehicles, but these have come after previous driving while impaired or intoxicated arrests. Many other states, such as Maryland, have already passed laws requiring certain offenders to have breathilizer-like devices installed that require a driver to blow into a tube before the car will start.

"No one should be drinking and driving no matter how small the amount," states the letter on the petition for Brittney's Law. "If you have money to drink yourself incoherent, you should have money to pay for a cab home. So many lives have been lost, and nothing is done until it is too late, or just in time."

If you are interested in signing the petition for "Brittney's Law," click here to be sent to the website.

Read more here: