Repeat DUI Offenders Would Wear Tracking Device Under New PA Bill

A newly proposed bill in the Pennsylvania legislature would utilize an innovative new technology to keep close track of repeat DUI offenders.

The devices work similarly to home arrest monitors, according to backers of the legislation, which has been introduced as Senate Bill 773. The "CAM" device tests the wearer's perspiration for the presence of alcohol at regular intervals, and then transmits the information back to a monitoring agency.

Sen. Tom Killion, a Republican representing Chester and Delaware counties, is the sponsor of the bill. It's been named Deana's Law, in honor of Deana Eckman, a 45-year-old woman who was killed by a drunk driver back in February.

"We must utilize everything at our disposal to keep those who have multiple DUIs from endangering lives on our roadways," Killion said.

According to Killion, CAM devices have already shown success during trial runs over the past several years in York County. The county experienced a 90 percent decline in repeat offenders during the first year of use.

The man who was behind the wheel when Eckman was struck and killed, David Matthew Strowhouer, had five DUIs prior to that incident.

“The death of a child cannot be described in words,” Rich DeRosa, father of Deana Eckman, said in a statement released with Killion's announcement. "It is a constant state of depression. To lose someone in such an unnatural way, to be killed by a now six-time drunk driver, literally shakes your faith in humanity."

The proposed legislation would also increase jail time for individuals convicted of at least four DUIs, bumping it up from a three and half to seven year sentence to a five to 10 year sentence. The bill would also require the impoundment of the driver's vehicle after the third DUI arrest, as well as require interlock devices on vehicles of three-time DUI convicts for a period of two years.

On Wednesday, the bill was referred to the state senate's Transportation Committee. It has a measure of bipartisan support, with its 13 cosponsors including both Democrats and Republicans.