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Two KY Lawmakers Named MADD Champions

Mothers Against Drunk Driving has named two Kentucky lawmakers “Legislative Champions.”

Representatives Dennis Keene and Julie Raque Adams earned them the distinction for legislation they introduced earlier this year.

Earlier this year, Rep. Adams filed a bill that would end what’s known as “shock probation,” which essentially allows judges to release DUI offenders early.

And Rep. Keene introduced legislation that would require drunk-driving offenders to install ignition locks in their cars connected to a breathalyzer.

But MADD state legislative affairs manager Frank Harris says that those efforts were slowed to a halt in the Senate, particularly Keene’s bill, which opponents said would create a cottage industry for breathalyzer locks.

“There’s already a cottage industry of DUI defense attorneys in Kentucky that, ideally, could be downgraded, deleted a little bit if ignition interlocks were required for anybody convicted of drunk driving, which, currently, 20 states do,” Harris said.

The Federal Highway Traffic Safety Administration says 168 people were killed in accidents caused by drunk drivers on Kentucky roadways last year.